CVE-2023-22483
cmark-gfm Quadratic complexity bugs may lead to a denial of service
cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. Versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.7 are subject to several polynomial time complexity issues in cmark-gfm that may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. Various commands, when piped to cmark-gfm with large values, cause the running time to increase quadratically. These vulnerabilities have been patched in version 0.29.0.gfm.7.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Adjacent network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
3.5
cmark-gfm Quadratic complexity bugs may lead to a denial of service
cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. Versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.7 are subject to several polynomial time complexity issues in cmark-gfm that may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. Various commands, when piped to cmark-gfm with large values, cause the running time to increase quadratically. These vulnerabilities have been patched in version 0.29.0.gfm.7.
- Record
CVE-2023-22483- CVSS 3.1
- 3.5 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-26630
3.5
cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. Versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.7 are subject to several polynomial time complexity issues in cmark-gfm that may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. Various commands, when piped to cmark-gfm with large values, cause the running time to increase quadratically. These vulnerabilities have been patched in version 0.29.0.gfm.7.
- Record
EUVD-2023-26630- CVSS 3.1
- 3.5 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
3.5
cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. Versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.7 are subject to several polynomial time complexity issues in cmark-gfm that may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. Various commands, when piped to cmark-gfm with large values, cause the running time to increase quadratically. These vulnerabilities have been patched in version 0.29.0.gfm.7.
- Record
CVE-2023-22483- CVSS 3.1
- 3.5 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-400, CWE-407
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
3.5
cmark-gfm Quadratic complexity bugs may lead to a denial of service
cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. Versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.7 are subject to several polynomial time complexity issues in cmark-gfm that may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. Various commands, when piped to cmark-gfm with large values, cause the running time to increase quadratically. These vulnerabilities have been patched in version 0.29.0.gfm.7.
- Record
CVE-2023-22483- CVSS 3.1
- 3.5 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2023-22483
7.5
cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. Versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.7 are subject to several polynomial time complexity issues in cmark-gfm that may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. Various commands, when piped to cmark-gfm with large values, cause the running time to increase quadratically. These vulnerabilities have been patched in version 0.29.0.gfm.7.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22483- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2023-22483
3.5
cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. Versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.7 are subject to several polynomial time complexity issues in cmark-gfm that may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. Various commands, when piped to cmark-gfm with large values, cause the running time to increase quadratically. These vulnerabilities have been patched in version 0.29.0.gfm.7.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2023-22483- CVSS 3.1
- 3.5 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVRSEC-2023-8 No score
Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerabilities
cmark-gfm, GitHub's extended version of the CommonMark library in C, suffers from multiple vulnerabilities affecting versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.12. Various issues, including polynomial time complexity in multiple components like autolink extension, handle_close_bracket, and parsing of certain text patterns (leading >, -, _), may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and denial of service. An out-of-bounds read in the validate_protocol function was also identified but is considered less harmful. Patches are available in versions 0.29.0.gfm.7, 0.29.0.gfm.10, and 0.29.0.gfm.12. Upgrading is advised, and users unable to upgrade should validate input from trusted sources.
- Record
RSEC-2023-8- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUSN-7319-1 No score
cmark-gfm vulnerabilities
It was discovered that cmark-gfm's autolink extension did not correctly handle parsing large inputs. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. (CVE-2022-39209)
It was discovered that cmark-gfm did not correctly handle parsing large inputs. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Ubuntu 24.10. (CVE-2023-22483)
It was discovered that cmark-gfm did not correctly handle parsing large inputs. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Ubuntu 24.10. (CVE-2023-22484)
It was discovered that cmark-gfm did not correctly handle parsing large inputs. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2023-22486, CVE-2023-26485)
- Record
USN-7319-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
cmark-gfmDebian:12 |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.29.0.gfm.13-10.29.0.gfm.13-20.29.0.gfm.13-30.29.0.gfm.13-40.29.0.gfm.13-70.29.0.gfm.13-7.10.29.0.gfm.6-6 |
None known |
cmark-gfmDebian:13 |
before 0.29.0.gfm.13-1 | 0.29.0.gfm.13-1 |
cmark-gfmDebian:14 |
before 0.29.0.gfm.13-1 | 0.29.0.gfm.13-1 |
python-cmarkgfmDebian:12 |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.8.0-32024.11.20-12025.10.22-12025.10.22-2 |
None known |
python-cmarkgfmDebian:13 |
before 2024.11.20-1 | 2024.11.20-1 |
python-cmarkgfmDebian:14 |
before 2024.11.20-1 | 2024.11.20-1 |
r-cran-commonmarkDebian:12 |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.8.1-11.9.0-11.9.1-11.9.2-11.9.2-2 Show 4 moreShow less1.9.5-12.0.0-12.0.0-22.0.0-3 |
None known |
r-cran-commonmarkDebian:13 |
before 1.9.0-1 | 1.9.0-1 |
r-cran-commonmarkDebian:14 |
before 1.9.0-1 | 1.9.0-1 |
ruby-commonmarkerDebian:12 |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.23.10-10.23.6-10.23.9-12.10.0-12.10.0-2 Show 5 moreShow less2.10.1-12.8.3-12.8.3-22.8.3-32.8.3-4 |
None known |
Show 9 moreShow less
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
ruby-commonmarkerDebian:13 |
before 0.23.10-1 | 0.23.10-1 |
ruby-commonmarkerDebian:14 |
before 0.23.10-1 | 0.23.10-1 |
commonmarkCRAN From an advisory covering 7 CVEs |
0.2 up to 1.9.2, plus listed versions 0.40.50.60.70.8 Show 14 moreShow less0.91.01.11.21.41.51.61.71.81.91.9.11.8.01.8.11.9.0 |
1.9.2 |
cmark-gfmUbuntu:Pro:20.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 0.28.3.gfm.20-30.29.0.gfm.0-30.29.0.gfm.0-40.29.0.gfm.0-4ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
None known |
cmark-gfmUbuntu:Pro:22.04:LTS |
before 0.29.0.gfm.3-3ubuntu0.1~esm1, plus listed versions 0.29.0.gfm.0-60.29.0.gfm.2-10.29.0.gfm.2-1+really.0.29.0.gfm.0ubuntu10.29.0.gfm.2-20.29.0.gfm.3-3 |
0.29.0.gfm.3-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
cmark-gfmUbuntu:Pro:24.04:LTS |
before 0.29.0.gfm.6-6ubuntu0.24.04.1~esm1, plus listed versions 0.29.0.gfm.6-60.29.0.gfm.6-6build1 |
0.29.0.gfm.6-6ubuntu0.24.04.1~esm1 |
cmark-gfmUbuntu:Pro:20.04:LTS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs |
before 0.29.0.gfm.0-4ubuntu0.1~esm1, plus listed versions 0.28.3.gfm.20-30.29.0.gfm.0-30.29.0.gfm.0-4 |
0.29.0.gfm.0-4ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
cmark-gfmUbuntu:Pro:22.04:LTS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs |
before 0.29.0.gfm.3-3ubuntu0.1~esm1, plus listed versions 0.29.0.gfm.0-60.29.0.gfm.2-10.29.0.gfm.2-1+really.0.29.0.gfm.0ubuntu10.29.0.gfm.2-20.29.0.gfm.3-3 |
0.29.0.gfm.3-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
cmark-gfmUbuntu:Pro:24.04:LTS From an advisory covering 5 CVEs |
before 0.29.0.gfm.6-6ubuntu0.24.04.1~esm1, plus listed versions 0.29.0.gfm.6-60.29.0.gfm.6-6build1 |
0.29.0.gfm.6-6ubuntu0.24.04.1~esm1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-22483 is a low vulnerability (CVSS 3.5) in Github Cmark-gfm, published January 23, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.08%, the 65th percentile. Fixed in cmark-gfm 0.29.0.gfm.13-1.
References
github.com/github/cmark-gfm/security/advisories/GHSA-29g3-96g3-jg6c
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/22xxx/CVE-2023-22483.json
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-22483
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-22483
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-37463
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-26485
Show 12 moreShow less
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-24824
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-22486
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-22485
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-22484
github.com/r-lib/commonmark/issues/26
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-22483
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-22483
ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7319-1
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-39209
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-22484
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-22486
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-26485