XSS in Readest

CVE-2026-82642

Readest is an open-source e-book reader built on Tauri. In versions prior to 0.11.16, EPUB chapter HTML is sanitized with DOMPurify using a configuration that forbade only the <script> tag (FORBID_TAGS: ['script']) in apps/readest-app/src/services/transformers/sanitizer.ts. DOMPurify does not parse the contents of the srcdoc attribute on <iframe> elements, treating it as an opaque string attribute, so an attacker who can get an <iframe> element to survive sanitization can embed a complete HTML document containing a <script> tag inside srcdoc and have it execute when the browser renders the iframe. The content iframe is configured with sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts", so script executing inside it shares the parent origin and can reach parent.parent.__TAURI_INTERNALS__.invoke(...), giving access to every Tauri IPC command the application is permitted to use, which escalates to arbitrary code execution. The payload can be made invisible (zero-size, transparent iframe) so the reader sees only normal book text. Version 0.11.16 hardened the sanitizer configuration by adding 'iframe', 'object' and 'embed' to FORBID_TAGS and adding 'srcdoc' to FORBID_ATTR.

Vulnerability class: XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-82642?
CVE-2026-82642 is a high-severity vulnerability in Readest, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2026-08-30.
How severe is CVE-2026-82642?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.