GHSA-xxmq-4vph-956w
MEDIUMComrak vulnerable to production of excessive output when parsing Markdown (GHSL-2023-048)
Blast Radius
comrakReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
comrak is vulnerable to the upstream cmark issue, "Issue revealed by fuzzer". A large number of references in a markdown document can trigger an overly large response.
Patches
0.17.0 contains https://github.com/kivikakk/comrak/commit/70f97f3ea4eae30ffbd1b94c764a3de2f1c41d2a, which limits reference output to a 100Kb maximum.
Workarounds
n/a
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | comrak | all versions | 0.17.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for comrak. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update comrak to 0.17.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xxmq-4vph-956w 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-xxmq-4vph-956w is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-xxmq-4vph-956w. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-xxmq-4vph-956w in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-xxmq-4vph-956w across crates.io dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.