CVE-2024-28245 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.3) CWE-116 vulnerability in katex. A fix is available for katex — see the affected versions and patch details below.
KaTeX's \includegraphics does not escape filename
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-28245.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
katexnpmDescription
Impact
KaTeX users who render untrusted mathematical expressions could encounter malicious input using \includegraphics that runs arbitrary JavaScript, or generate invalid HTML.
Patches
Upgrade to KaTeX v0.16.10 to remove this vulnerability.
Workarounds
- Avoid use of or turn off the
trustoption, or set it to forbid\includegraphicscommands. - Forbid inputs containing the substring
"\\includegraphics". - Sanitize HTML output from KaTeX.
Details
\includegraphics did not properly quote its filename argument, allowing it to generate invalid or malicious HTML that runs scripts.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue or security advisory in the KaTeX repository
- Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | katex | ≥ 0.11.0&&< 0.16.10 | 0.16.10npm install katex@0.16.10 |
Affected Products
katexkatexDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for katex, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update katex to 0.16.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-28245 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-28245 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.