CVE-2021-21306Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Service hang via underscore emphasis regex backtracking

Published Feb 8, 2021 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Regular expression denial of service in Marked 1.1.1 through 1.x allows attackers to hang Markdown conversion with crafted input. The inline emphasis and strong tokenizers apply backtracking regular expressions to alternating odd- and even-length underscore groups. Any application that parses attacker-controlled Markdown can suffer prolonged CPU consumption and an availability interruption.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability2.46%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Regular expression denial of service in Marked 1.1.1 through 1.x allows attackers to hang Markdown conversion with crafted input. The inline emphasis and strong tokenizers apply backtracking regular expressions to alternating odd- and even-length underscore groups. Any application that parses attacker-controlled Markdown can suffer prolonged CPU consumption and an availability interruption.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-21306
Published
Feb 8, 2021
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
MarkedJS
Product
Marked
Classifications
CWE-400, T1499
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 8, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 3, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=>= 1.1.1, < 2.0.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

MarkedJS · Markedversion=>= 1.1.1, < 2.0.0

Published CVSS scores

5.0NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
7.5NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.3GitHubCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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