CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-39199 — remark-html is an open source nodejs library which compiles Markdown to HTML

Critical CVSS 10

remark-html is an open source nodejs library which compiles Markdown to HTML. In affected versions the documentation of remark-html has mentioned that it was safe by default. In practice the default was never safe and had to be opted into. That is, user input was not sanitized. This means arbitrary HTML can be passed through leading to potential XSS attacks. The problem has been patched in 13.0.2 and 14.0.1: `remark-html` is now safe by default, and the implementation matches the documentation. On older affected versions, pass `sanitize: true` if you cannot update.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
10 (3.1)
Published
2021-09-07
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
javascript/npm
Weaknesses
CWE-79

Affected products

  • remark / remark-html

Showing 1 representative product identities from 2 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Cross-site scripting and unsafe browser output

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Trace reflected, stored, and DOM-derived untrusted values into HTML, attributes, URLs, styles, scripts, and client-side template sinks.
  • Identify affected origins, authenticated user roles, sensitive browser capabilities, and where content is shared across tenants.
  • Review framework escaping, rich-text sanitization, legacy templates, and client-side rendering paths.

Remediate safely

  • Use context-aware framework output encoding and safe DOM APIs; keep untrusted data out of executable contexts.
  • Sanitize intentionally supported markup with a maintained allowlist policy and validate URLs and attributes separately.
  • Update affected rendering components and add tests for every output context using inert sentinel markup.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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