CVE-2026-68749

What it is

Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity vulnerability in the CSS scrubber in rrrene html_sanitize_ex allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to exhaust server CPU via a long CSS declaration in sanitized HTML. The declaration regex in HtmlSanitizeEx.Scrubber.CSS.scrub/1 matches the property name with an unbounded greedy [-\w]+ followed by a mandatory :, so a long run of word characters not followed by a colon makes the engine give back one character at a time and retry the colon at every start offset. The work is quadratic in the length of the run, and no length cap is applied to the CSS handed to the scrubber. An 80 KB <style> body costs roughly 2.4 seconds of scheduler time, so a few concurrent requests saturate the BEAM scheduler pool and make the application unresponsive. The impact is CPU exhaustion only. Nothing is read, modified or disclosed. This issue affects html_sanitize_ex: from 0.3.1 before 1.4.5 and from 1.5.0-rc.0 before 1.5.3.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited over the network without logging in. High risk of service disruption.

Exploit odds

0.8% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2026-08-06 16:16 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-10-24 16:10 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.8% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 8.2 HIGH (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2026-08-06 16:16 UTC

Last modified

2026-10-24 16:10 UTC

Exploit probability

0.8% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-1333

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Rrrene Htmlsanitizeex < 1.5.3

Attack profile CVSS 4.0 · 8.2

Attack vector

Network

Complexity

Low

Attack requirements

Present

Privileges needed

None

User interaction

None

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Is it in your code?

Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.

Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2026-68749.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2026-68749. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.

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