7.3
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2026-25156
HotCRP vulnerable to stored XSS via comment attachments
Description

HotCRP is conference review software. HotCRP versions from October 2025 through January 2026 delivered documents of all types with inline Content-Disposition, causing them to be rendered in the user’s browser rather than downloaded. (The intended behavior was for only `text/plain`, `application/pdf`, `image/gif`, `image/jpeg`, and `image/png` to be delivered inline, though adding `save=0` to the document URL could request inline delivery for any document.) This made users who clicked a document link vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks. An uploaded HTML or SVG document would run in the viewer’s browser with access to their HotCRP credentials, and Javascript in that document could eventually make arbitrary calls to HotCRP’s API. Malicious documents could be uploaded to submission fields with “file upload” or “attachment” type, or as attachments to comments. PDF upload fields were not vulnerable. A search of documents uploaded to hotcrp.com found no evidence of exploitation. The vulnerability was introduced in commit aa20ef288828b04550950cf67c831af8a525f508 (11 October 2025), present in development versions and v3.2, and fixed in commit 8933e86c9f384b356dc4c6e9e2814dee1074b323 and v3.2.1. Additionally, c3d88a7e18d52119c65df31c2cc994edd2beccc5 and v3.2.1 remove support for `save=0`.

INFO

Published Date :

Jan. 30, 2026, 11:16 p.m.

Last Modified :

Jan. 30, 2026, 11:16 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-25156 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

No affected product recoded yet

CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
Solution
Update HotCRP to v3.2.1 to fix XSS vulnerability related to inline document rendering.
  • Update HotCRP to version 3.2.1 or later.
  • Remove support for 'save=0' parameter if used.
  • Review uploaded documents for malicious content.
  • Implement stricter input validation for uploaded files.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-25156 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-25156 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-25156 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-25156 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Jan. 30, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description HotCRP is conference review software. HotCRP versions from October 2025 through January 2026 delivered documents of all types with inline Content-Disposition, causing them to be rendered in the user’s browser rather than downloaded. (The intended behavior was for only `text/plain`, `application/pdf`, `image/gif`, `image/jpeg`, and `image/png` to be delivered inline, though adding `save=0` to the document URL could request inline delivery for any document.) This made users who clicked a document link vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks. An uploaded HTML or SVG document would run in the viewer’s browser with access to their HotCRP credentials, and Javascript in that document could eventually make arbitrary calls to HotCRP’s API. Malicious documents could be uploaded to submission fields with “file upload” or “attachment” type, or as attachments to comments. PDF upload fields were not vulnerable. A search of documents uploaded to hotcrp.com found no evidence of exploitation. The vulnerability was introduced in commit aa20ef288828b04550950cf67c831af8a525f508 (11 October 2025), present in development versions and v3.2, and fixed in commit 8933e86c9f384b356dc4c6e9e2814dee1074b323 and v3.2.1. Additionally, c3d88a7e18d52119c65df31c2cc994edd2beccc5 and v3.2.1 remove support for `save=0`.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
    Added CWE CWE-79
    Added Reference https://github.com/kohler/hotcrp/commit/8933e86c9f384b356dc4c6e9e2814dee1074b323
    Added Reference https://github.com/kohler/hotcrp/commit/aa20ef288828b04550950cf67c831af8a525f508
    Added Reference https://github.com/kohler/hotcrp/commit/c3d88a7e18d52119c65df31c2cc994edd2beccc5
    Added Reference https://github.com/kohler/hotcrp/security/advisories/GHSA-p88p-2f2p-2476
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 7.3
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact