CVE-2026-59860

Kiota is an OpenAPI based HTTP Client code generator. Prior to 1.29.1 and 1.32.3, Kiota is affected by a code-generation injection vulnerability in the C# XML documentation-comment sink (the description, externalDocs label, and externalDocs link fields emitted as /// … comments). When text from an OpenAPI description is written into single-line XML doc comments without stripping newline and Unicode line-terminator characters, an attacker can break out of the /// comment line and inject additional code into generated C# clients. This issue is fixed in version 1.29.1 and 1.32.3.

Kiota is an OpenAPI based HTTP Client code generator. Prior to 1.29.1 and 1.32.3, Kiota is affected by a code-generation injection vulnerability in the C# XML documentation-comment sink (the description, externalDocs label, and externalDocs link fields emitted as /// … comments). When text from an OpenAPI description is written into single-line XML doc comments without stripping newline and Unicode line-terminator characters, an attacker can break out of the /// comment line and inject additional code into generated C# clients. This issue is fixed in version 1.29.1 and 1.32.3.

Summary

Kiota versions prior to 1.32.3 and 1.29.1 are affected by a code-generation injection vulnerability in the C# XML documentation-comment sink (the description, externalDocs label, and externalDocs link fields emitted as /// … comments).

When text from an OpenAPI description is written into single-line XML doc comments without stripping newline and Unicode line-terminator characters, an attacker can break out of the /// comment line and inject additional code into generated C# clients.

Impact and Preconditions

This issue is only practically exploitable when:

1. the OpenAPI description used for generation is from an untrusted source, or
2. a normally trusted OpenAPI description has been compromised/tampered with.

The injected code is compiled (and may execute) when the developer or CI builds the generated client. If you only generate from trusted, integrity-protected API descriptions, risk is significantly reduced.

Affected Versions

• Affected: all versions < 1.29.1, >= 1.30.0, < 1.32.3
• Fixed: 1.29.1, 1.32.3, and later

Illustrative Exploit Example

Example OpenAPI fragment (malicious description)

openapi: 3.0.1
info:
  title: Exploit Demo
  version: 1.0.0
  description: |-
    Legitimate summary text
    public static class Pwned { static Pwned() { System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("calc.exe"); } }

The newline inside description (also exploitable via \r, U+0085, U+2028, U+2029) terminates the doc-comment line.

Example generated C# snippet before fix (illustrative)

/// Legitimate summary text
public static class Pwned { static Pwned() { System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("calc.exe"); } }

The injected payload escapes the intended /// comment context and introduces attacker-controlled statements in generated code.

Note: this exploit is not limited to the description field, but may also impact the externalDocs label and link text and other doc-comment-derived locations.

Remediation

1. Upgrade Kiota to 1.32.3 or later.
2. Regenerate/refresh existing generated clients as a precaution:

Refreshing generated clients ensures previously generated vulnerable code is replaced with hardened output. The fix (PR microsoft/kiota#7831) strips \r, \n, \u0085, \u2028, \u2029 (and normalizes tabs) from description, label, and link text before emitting doc comments.

Kiota is an OpenAPI based HTTP Client code generator. Prior to 1.29.1 and 1.32.3, Kiota is affected by a code-generation injection vulnerability in the C# XML documentation-comment sink (the description, externalDocs label, and externalDocs link fields emitted as /// … comments). When text from an OpenAPI description is written into single-line XML doc comments without stripping newline and Unicode line-terminator characters, an attacker can break out of the /// comment line and inject additional code into generated C# clients. This issue is fixed in version 1.29.1 and 1.32.3.

Kiota is an OpenAPI based HTTP Client code generator. Prior to 1.29.1 and 1.32.3, Kiota is affected by a code-generation injection vulnerability in the C# XML documentation-comment sink (the description, externalDocs label, and externalDocs link fields emitted as /// … comments). When text from an OpenAPI description is written into single-line XML doc comments without stripping newline and Unicode line-terminator characters, an attacker can break out of the /// comment line and inject additional code into generated C# clients. This issue is fixed in version 1.29.1 and 1.32.3.

Summary

Kiota versions prior to 1.32.3 and 1.29.1 are affected by a code-generation injection vulnerability in the C# XML documentation-comment sink (the description, externalDocs label, and externalDocs link fields emitted as /// … comments).

When text from an OpenAPI description is written into single-line XML doc comments without stripping newline and Unicode line-terminator characters, an attacker can break out of the /// comment line and inject additional code into generated C# clients.

Impact and Preconditions

This issue is only practically exploitable when:

1. the OpenAPI description used for generation is from an untrusted source, or
2. a normally trusted OpenAPI description has been compromised/tampered with.

The injected code is compiled (and may execute) when the developer or CI builds the generated client. If you only generate from trusted, integrity-protected API descriptions, risk is significantly reduced.

Affected Versions

• Affected: all versions < 1.29.1, >= 1.30.0, < 1.32.3
• Fixed: 1.29.1, 1.32.3, and later

Illustrative Exploit Example

Example OpenAPI fragment (malicious description)

openapi: 3.0.1
info:
  title: Exploit Demo
  version: 1.0.0
  description: |-
    Legitimate summary text
    public static class Pwned { static Pwned() { System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("calc.exe"); } }

The newline inside description (also exploitable via \r, U+0085, U+2028, U+2029) terminates the doc-comment line.

Example generated C# snippet before fix (illustrative)

/// Legitimate summary text
public static class Pwned { static Pwned() { System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("calc.exe"); } }

The injected payload escapes the intended /// comment context and introduces attacker-controlled statements in generated code.

Note: this exploit is not limited to the description field, but may also impact the externalDocs label and link text and other doc-comment-derived locations.

Remediation

1. Upgrade Kiota to 1.32.3 or later.
2. Regenerate/refresh existing generated clients as a precaution:

Refreshing generated clients ensures previously generated vulnerable code is replaced with hardened output. The fix (PR microsoft/kiota#7831) strips \r, \n, \u0085, \u2028, \u2029 (and normalizes tabs) from description, label, and link text before emitting doc comments.