CVE-2026-68750
Quadratic sibling re-flattening in the html_sanitize_ex traversal engine allows CPU-exhaustion denial of service
Description
Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity vulnerability in the traversal engine in rrrene html_sanitize_ex allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to exhaust server CPU and memory via a flat run of sibling elements in sanitized HTML. The list clause of HtmlSanitizeEx.Traverser.traverse/2 recurses on the tail of a sibling list and then evaluates List.flatten([head] ++ tail) over the already flattened result, so every one of n siblings copies and re-walks the entire remaining tail. The flattening is only needed for the rare case where scrub returns several replacement nodes for one node, but the cost is paid across the whole tail at every step, making traversal quadratic in sibling count. The traverser sits on every public entry point, so no particular scrubber or configuration is required and the payload needs only allowed tags. A 160 KB body of 20,000 sibling elements occupies a scheduler for roughly 1.7 seconds, and the cost grows faster than the body does. This issue affects html_sanitize_ex: from 0.3.1 before 1.5.3.
INFO
Published Date :
Aug. 6, 2026, 4:16 p.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 6, 2026, 4:16 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2026-68750
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 4.0 | HIGH | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | ||||
| CVSS 4.0 | HIGH | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db |
Solution
- Update html_sanitize_ex to version 1.5.3 or later.
- Apply vendor patches if available.
- Monitor server resource utilization.
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-2026-68750.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-68750 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-2026-68750
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-2026-68750 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-68750 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.
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New CVE Received by 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Aug. 06, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'cpes': ['cpe:2.3:a:rrrene:html_sanitize_ex:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*'], 'repo': 'https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex', 'vendor': 'rrrene', 'modules': ["'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx.Traverser'", "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx'"], 'product': 'html_sanitize_ex', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '0.3.1', 'lessThan': '1.5.3', 'versionType': 'semver'}], 'packageURL': 'pkg:hex/html_sanitize_ex', 'packageName': 'html_sanitize_ex', 'programFiles': ['lib/html_sanitize_ex/traverser.ex', 'lib/html_sanitize_ex.ex'], 'collectionURL': 'https://repo.hex.pm', 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected', 'programRoutines': [{'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx.Traverser':traverse/2"}, {'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx':basic_html/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx':html5/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx':markdown_html/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx':strip_tags/1"}]}, {'cpes': ['cpe:2.3:a:rrrene:html_sanitize_ex:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*'], 'repo': 'https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex', 'vendor': 'rrrene', 'modules': ["'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx.Traverser'", "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx'"], 'product': 'html_sanitize_ex', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '69ea11d61525c470b39b6860d024770d5573ff1f', 'lessThan': '9f5ccedbed230930813f992a1e6906fcf485981e', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'packageURL': 'pkg:github/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex', 'packageName': 'rrrene/html_sanitize_ex', 'programFiles': ['lib/html_sanitize_ex/traverser.ex', 'lib/html_sanitize_ex.ex'], 'collectionURL': 'https://github.com', 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected', 'programRoutines': [{'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx.Traverser':traverse/2"}, {'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx':basic_html/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx':html5/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx':markdown_html/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.HtmlSanitizeEx':strip_tags/1"}]}] Added Description Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity vulnerability in the traversal engine in rrrene html_sanitize_ex allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to exhaust server CPU and memory via a flat run of sibling elements in sanitized HTML. The list clause of HtmlSanitizeEx.Traverser.traverse/2 recurses on the tail of a sibling list and then evaluates List.flatten([head] ++ tail) over the already flattened result, so every one of n siblings copies and re-walks the entire remaining tail. The flattening is only needed for the rare case where scrub returns several replacement nodes for one node, but the cost is paid across the whole tail at every step, making traversal quadratic in sibling count. The traverser sits on every public entry point, so no particular scrubber or configuration is required and the payload needs only allowed tags. A 160 KB body of 20,000 sibling elements occupies a scheduler for roughly 1.7 seconds, and the cost grows faster than the body does. This issue affects html_sanitize_ex: from 0.3.1 before 1.5.3. Added CVSS V4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Added CWE CWE-407 Added Reference https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-68750.html Added Reference https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex/commit/9f5ccedbed230930813f992a1e6906fcf485981e Added Reference https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex/security/advisories/GHSA-463q-p2fr-mh9p Added Reference https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-68750