CVE-2026-65900

DOMPurify versions >=3.0.0 and before 3.4.8, when configured with SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES together with a DOM output mode (RETURN_DOM, RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT, or IN_PLACE), fail to strip template expressions (e.g. ${evil}, {{evil}}, <%evil%>) inside <template> element content. The final normalization/scrub pass (_scrubTemplateExpressions) uses a NodeIterator and node.normalize() that do not descend into template.content, so expressions that only form after adjacent text nodes merge survive sanitization. This bypasses SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES and can allow a downstream template engine to evaluate attacker-supplied expressions. The string output path is not affected.

DOMPurify versions >=3.0.0 and before 3.4.8, when configured with SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES together with a DOM output mode (RETURN_DOM, RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT, or IN_PLACE), fail to strip template expressions (e.g. ${evil}, {{evil}}, <%evil%>) inside <template> element content. The final normalization/scrub pass (_scrubTemplateExpressions) uses a NodeIterator and node.normalize() that do not descend into template.content, so expressions that only form after adjacent text nodes merge survive sanitization. This bypasses SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES and can allow a downstream template engine to evaluate attacker-supplied expressions. The string output path is not affected.

Summary

When DOMPurify is configured with both SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES: true and RETURN_DOM: true (or IN_PLACE: true), an attacker can inject template expressions, such as ${evil}, {{evil}}, or <%evil%>, that survive the sanitization pass inside <template> element content. This bypasses the explicit purpose of SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES, which is to prevent template engine evaluation of user-supplied content.

Note: The string output path is not affected. Only the DOM return paths (RETURN_DOM: true, RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT: true, IN_PLACE: true) are vulnerable.

Description

Background

SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES is designed to strip {{ }}, ${ }, and <% %> expressions from sanitized output so that downstream template engines do not evaluate user-controlled content. The feature operates through two mechanisms:

1. Per-node scrubbing (_sanitizeElements, src/purify.ts:1403), scrubs individual text nodes during the main sanitization walk.
2. Final normalization pass (_scrubTemplateExpressions, src/purify.ts:1115), calls node.normalize() to merge adjacent text nodes, then walks the merged nodes and strips any expressions that only appeared after merging.

The Gap

_scrubTemplateExpressions uses a standard NodeIterator rooted at the output body:

// src/purify.ts:1117
const walker = createNodeIterator.call(
  node.ownerDocument || node,
  node,
  NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT | NodeFilter.SHOW_COMMENT | ...,
  null
);

Per the DOM specification, a NodeIterator does not descend into <template>.content. The template element's content is a separate DocumentFragment that lives outside the normal child-node tree. For the same reason, node.normalize() (called on line 1116) also does not normalize text nodes inside <template>.content.

This means the final normalization and scrub pass, the only pass that catches expressions formed by merging split text nodes, never runs on <template> content.

How Split Text Nodes Are Created

When DOMPurify removes a disallowed element with KEEP_CONTENT: true (the default), it moves the element's text children into the parent node. This is the standard code path at src/purify.ts:1361–1373:

if (KEEP_CONTENT && !FORBID_CONTENTS[tagName]) {
  const parentNode = getParentNode(currentNode);
  const childNodes = getChildNodes(currentNode);
  if (childNodes && parentNode) {
    for (let i = childCount - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
      const childClone = cloneNode(childNodes[i], true);
      parentNode.insertBefore(childClone, getNextSibling(currentNode));
    }
  }
}

If the removed elements were adjacent siblings inside <template> content, their extracted text nodes end up as adjacent text nodes in the template content fragment. Each individual text node is scrubbed by _sanitizeElements, but since $ and {evil} do not match any expression regex on their own, neither is modified.

The code comment at src/purify.ts:1100 explicitly acknowledges the threat class:

"which only form after text-node normalization (e.g. fragments split across stripped elements) cannot survive into a template-evaluating framework."

The implementation guards against this on the main body, but the guard is not applied to <template> content.

Proof of Concept

Why the Split Works

The bypass relies on splitting ${...} across two adjacent custom elements so that neither fragment matches any DOMPurify regex on its own:

| Fragment | Against TMPLIT_EXPR /\${[\w\W]*/g | Against MUSTACHE_EXPR /{{[\w\W]*\|^[\w\W]*}}/g | Result | |---|---|---|---| | $ | Requires ${ - no { follows | No {{ or }} | Survives | | {alert(document.domain)} | Requires leading $ - absent | No {{, ends with single } not }} | Survives | | ${alert(document.domain)} | Full match - would be stripped | - | Stripped if seen whole |

DOMPurify only sees each fragment in isolation. It never merges them before…

DOMPurify versions >=3.0.0 and before 3.4.8, when configured with SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES together with a DOM output mode (RETURN_DOM, RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT, or IN_PLACE), fail to strip template expressions (e.g. ${evil}, {{evil}}, <%evil%>) inside <template> element content. The final normalization/scrub pass (_scrubTemplateExpressions) uses a NodeIterator and node.normalize() that do not descend into template.content, so expressions that only form after adjacent text nodes merge survive sanitization. This bypasses SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES and can allow a downstream template engine to evaluate attacker-supplied expressions. The string output path is not affected.

DOMPurify versions >=3.0.0 and before 3.4.8, when configured with SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES together with a DOM output mode (RETURN_DOM, RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT, or IN_PLACE), fail to strip template expressions (e.g. ${evil}, {{evil}}, <%evil%>) inside <template> element content. The final normalization/scrub pass (_scrubTemplateExpressions) uses a NodeIterator and node.normalize() that do not descend into template.content, so expressions that only form after adjacent text nodes merge survive sanitization. This bypasses SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES and can allow a downstream template engine to evaluate attacker-supplied expressions. The string output path is not affected.

DOMPurify versions >=3.0.0 and before 3.4.8, when configured with SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES together with a DOM output mode (RETURN_DOM, RETURN_DOM_FRAGMENT, or IN_PLACE), fail to strip template expressions (e.g. ${evil}, {{evil}}, <%evil%>) inside <template> element content. The final normalization/scrub pass (_scrubTemplateExpressions) uses a NodeIterator and node.normalize() that do not descend into template.content, so expressions that only form after adjacent text nodes merge survive sanitization. This bypasses SAFE_FOR_TEMPLATES and can allow a downstream template engine to evaluate attacker-supplied expressions. The string output path is not affected.