CVE-2022-21670 | Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in markdown-it

Exp

markdown-it is a Markdown parser. Prior to version 1.3.2, special patterns with length greater than 50 thousand characterss could slow down the parser significantly. Users should upgrade to version 12.3.2 to receive a patch. There are no known workarounds aside from upgrading.

Published: 2022-01-10 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-21670 is rated High Exploit Risk (63.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.11%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2022-21670

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-21670

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-04 0.90% 1.11% +0.21%
2 2026-03-01 1.11% 0.90% -0.21%
3 2026-02-04 — 1.11% —

Full EPSS history (20 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-21670

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-21670

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2022-21670

GHSA-6vfc-qv3f-vr6c · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: npm — Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in markdown-it

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-21670

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2022-21670 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (node-markdown-it), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-21670
ubuntu low CVE-2022-21670 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (node-markdown-it), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 9, needs-triage 4, DNE 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-21670

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-21670

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
markdown-it_project markdown-it <= 12.3.1 cpe:2.3:a:markdown-it_project:markdown-it:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-21670

cvelogic Threat Intelligence