CVE-2026-41241 — pretalx
HIGHCVE-2026-41241 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.7) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in pretalx. A fix is available for pretalx — see the affected versions and patch details below.
pretalx: Stored cross-site scripting in organiser search typeahead
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-2026-41241.
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
pretalxReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
The organiser search in the pretalx backend rendered submission titles, speaker display names, and user names/emails into the result dropdown using innerHTML string interpolation. Any user who controls one of those fields (which includes any registered user whose display name is looked up by an administrator) could include HTML or JavaScript that would execute in an organiser's browser when the organiser's search query matched the malicious record.
Triggering the vulnerability required:
- An attacker-controlled field reachable by the search, which included any speaker's or submitter's display name in an event context (submitted a proposal) or any user at all for superusers.
- An organiser user with more than just review permissions or administrator user performing a typeahead search whose query matched the malicious record. An attacker can make matches likely by placing common substrings in the payload-bearing field.
Once triggered, the injected script executed in the context of the pretalx organiser interface and could read the page's CSRF token, submit authenticated requests on the victim's behalf (including requests modifying data due to access to the CSRF token), or exfiltrate data visible to the victim.
Patches
Fixed in pretalx v2026.1.0.
Workarounds
There is no configuration-level workaround. Operators who cannot upgrade immediately can avoid using the organiser search bar, or apply the patch to src/pretalx/static/orga/js/base.js manually and re-collect static files.
Credits
We thank Elad Meged from Novee Security for finding and reporting this vulnerability.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | pretalx | all versions | 2026.1.0pip install --upgrade 'pretalx==2026.1.0' |
Affected Products
pretalxpretalxDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pretalx, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update pretalx to 2026.1.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-41241 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-41241 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.