CVE-2026-42052 — beets
CVE-2026-42052 is a Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in beets. A fix is available for beets — see the affected versions and patch details below.
beets is Vulnerable to XSS
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-2026-42052.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
Real-World Exposure
beetsReal-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
During code logic analyis, an area that may lead to unintended behavior under specific conditions was discovered.
Overview
- Verified Version:
80cd21554124da07d17a4f962c7d770a4f70d0f2 - Vulnerability Type: Stored XSS
- Affected Location:
beetsplug/web/templates/index.html:42 - Trigger Scenario: Metadata fields such as
title,lyrics, orcommentsare rendered with raw template interpolation and inserted into DOM via.html(...).
Root Cause
The bundled web UI uses Underscore template interpolation mode <%= ... %> for untrusted metadata fields. In this runtime, <%= ... %> is raw insertion and HTML escaping is only performed by <%- ... %>. Rendered output is then inserted with .html(...), allowing attacker-controlled markup to become active DOM.
Source-to-Sink Chain
- Source (attacker-controlled input)
- Item metadata values (for example
title,lyrics,comments) can contain attacker HTML payload.
- Data flow
- Templates in
beetsplug/web/templates/index.html:42-46,87-91render metadata with<%= ... %>. - Underscore runtime defines
<%= ... %>as raw interpolation (beetsplug/web/static/underscore.js:890-907).
- Sink (security-sensitive action)
- Frontend inserts rendered template output into DOM via
$(this.el).html(this.template(this.model.toJSON()));inbeetsplug/web/static/beets.js:182,208,220.
Exploitation Preconditions
- Victim opens the web UI page that renders attacker-controlled metadata.
- Metadata includes executable HTML/JS payload.
Risk
Stored payload executes in the web UI context and can perform actions available to that origin.
Impact
Attacker can run arbitrary JavaScript in the victim browser, exfiltrate viewable data, and perform UI-driven actions as the victim session.
Remediation
- Replace raw interpolation
<%= ... %>with escaped output<%- ... %>for untrusted fields. - Avoid
.html(...)for untrusted template output; use text-safe rendering. - Sanitize metadata values on ingest and before rendering, including attribute contexts.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | beets | all versions | 2.10.0pip install --upgrade 'beets==2.10.0' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for beets, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update beets to 2.10.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-42052 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-2026-42052 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.