CVE-2026-33979
Express XSS Sanitizer: allowedTags/allowedAttributes bypass leads to permissive sanitization (XSS risk)
Description
Express XSS Sanitizer is Express 4.x and 5.x middleware which sanitizes user input data (in req.body, req.query, req.headers and req.params) to prevent Cross Site Scripting (XSS) attack. A vulnerability has been identified in versions prior to 2.0.2 where restrictive sanitization configurations are silently ignored. In version 2.0.2, the validation logic has been updated to respect explicitly provided empty configurations. Now, if allowedTags or allowedAttributes are provided (even if empty), they are passed directly to sanitize-html without being overridden.
INFO
Published Date :
March 27, 2026, 10:16 p.m.
Last Modified :
March 27, 2026, 10:16 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
[email protected]
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2026-33979
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
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | HIGH | [email protected] | ||||
| CVSS 3.1 | HIGH | MITRE-CVE |
Solution
- Update Express XSS Sanitizer to version 2.0.2.
- Verify sanitization configurations are correctly applied.
- Test for XSS vulnerabilities.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-33979.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-33979 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-2026-33979
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-2026-33979 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-33979 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]
Mar. 27, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Description Express XSS Sanitizer is Express 4.x and 5.x middleware which sanitizes user input data (in req.body, req.query, req.headers and req.params) to prevent Cross Site Scripting (XSS) attack. A vulnerability has been identified in versions prior to 2.0.2 where restrictive sanitization configurations are silently ignored. In version 2.0.2, the validation logic has been updated to respect explicitly provided empty configurations. Now, if allowedTags or allowedAttributes are provided (even if empty), they are passed directly to sanitize-html without being overridden. Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N Added CWE CWE-79 Added CWE CWE-183 Added Reference https://github.com/AhmedAdelFahim/express-xss-sanitizer/commit/5623009ef11dcf095c163a38dea07b9cc22ad19f Added Reference https://github.com/AhmedAdelFahim/express-xss-sanitizer/releases/tag/v2.0.2 Added Reference https://github.com/AhmedAdelFahim/express-xss-sanitizer/security/advisories/GHSA-3843-rr4g-m8jq