CVE-2026-44990 | Apostrophe has default XSS via `xmp` raw-text passthrough in `sanitize-html`

ApostropheCMS is an open-source Node.js content management system, and sanitize-html provides a simple HTML sanitizer with a clear API. Under the default configuration, versions of `sanitize-html` prior to 2.17.4 can turn attacker-controlled content inside a disallowed `xmp` element into live HTML or JavaScript. This is a sanitizer bypass in the default `disallowedTagsMode: 'discard'` path and can lead to stored XSS in applications that render sanitized output back to users. Version 2.17.4 patches the issue.

Published: 2026-06-12 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Deferred，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-44990 is rated Moderate Risk (45.9/100): CVSS Critical severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.32%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-44990

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 2026-06-15 0.01% 0.32% +0.31%
2 2026-06-13 0.06% 0.01% -0.05%
3 2026-06-12 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-44990

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.3 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 5.8 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-44990

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-44990

GHSA-rpr9-rxv7-x643 · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: npm — Apostrophe has default XSS via `xmp` raw-text passthrough in `sanitize-html`

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-44990

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2026-44990

cvelogic Threat Intelligence