XSS in Openedx Openedx-Platform

CVE-2026-85271

Open edX Platform enables the authoring and delivery of online learning at any scale. From Redwood until Ulmo and Verawood.1, the add_additional_attributes_to_notifications function in openedx/core/djangoapps/notifications/email/utils.py assigns notification content without sanitizing discussion-title values produced by get_notification_content in openedx/core/djangoapps/notifications/base_notification.py. An enrolled student can place CSS-capable markup in the post_title value supplied by lms/djangoapps/discussion/rest_api/discussions_notifications.py. Digest and batched-email rendering then passes that value through openedx/core/djangoapps/notifications/templates/notifications/digest_content.html as safe HTML, allowing email-open tracking and content spoofing or phishing when another learner opens a CSS-rendering client. The immediate-email path is not affected because it strips title markup and renders a separately sanitized body. This issue is fixed in Ulmo and Verawood.1.

Vulnerability class: XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.1 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (29.2th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 29th percentile — 29.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-85271: held from 0.004 to 0.004.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-85271?
CVE-2026-85271 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Openedx Openedx-Platform, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 6.1/10. Published 2026-09-18.
How severe is CVE-2026-85271?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.1 out of 10.