Hugo: Certain markdown links are not properly escaped

Description

Impact

Links and image links in the default markdown to HTML renderer are not properly escaped. Hugo users who trust their Markdown content or have custom render hooks for links and images are not affected.

Patches

Patched in v0.159.2

Workarounds

Create custom render hooks for links and images in a Hugo theme/project.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-04-03 23:38:19 UTC
Updated
2026-04-06 23:42:25 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-04-03 23:38:19 UTC
NVD published
2026-04-06

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.06% 19.33%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
5.3 4.0
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:N)
No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:P)
A user has to participate (for example click/open/approve).
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:N)
No confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:N)
No integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:N)
No availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:L)
Limited confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:L)
Limited integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Credits

  • cataliniovita (reporter)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
go github.com/gohugoio/hugo >= 0.60.0, < 0.159.2 0.159.2

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence