GHSA-2qv6-9wx5-cwv4: LiquidJS's strip_html filter bypass via newline characters in HTML tags enables XSS
Summary
The strip_html filter in liquidjs is intended to remove HTML tags from a string before rendering, and is widely used as an XSS sanitizer. The implementation uses a regex whose catch-all branch (<.*?>) does not match line terminators, so any HTML tag containing a \n or \r character passes through unmodified. An attacker who can place a newline inside a tag (e.g. <img\nsrc=x\nonerror=alert(1)>) bypasses sanitization entirely, since browsers treat newlines as whitespace within a tag and execute the resulting onerror/onload/etc. handler. This results in stored or reflected XSS in any application that relies on strip_html to neutralize untrusted HTML.
Details
The vulnerable code is in src/filters/html.ts:
// src/filters/html.ts:45-49
export function strip_html (this: FilterImpl, v: string) {
const str = stringify(v)
this.context.memoryLimit.use(str.length)
return str.replace(/<script[\s\S]*?<\/script>|<style[\s\S]*?<\/style>|<.*?>|<!--[\s\S]*?-->/g, '')
}
The regex has four alternations:
1. <script[\s\S]*?<\/script> — uses [\s\S], matches across newlines.
2. <style[\s\S]*?<\/style> — uses [\s\S], matches across newlines.
3. <.*?> — uses ., which in JavaScript does not match \n or \r (no s/dotAll flag set).
4. <!--[\s\S]*?--> — uses [\s\S], matches across newlines.
Branch 3 is the catch-all for "any other tag." Because . excludes line terminators, a tag containing a newline does not match any alternative. The literal characters of the tag are passed through to the output.
Browsers, however, parse HTML tag content with whitespace tolerance: per the HTML spec, attribute names and values may be separated by ASCII whitespace, which includes \n and \r. So <img\nsrc=x\nonerror=alert(1)> is parsed as a valid img element with an onerror handler.
liquidjs' default rendering pipeline does not auto-escape filter output (the outputEscape engine option is undefined by default — see src/liquid-options.ts), so the unescaped HTML is delivered verbatim to the consumer's HT
Details
Original advisory: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-2qv6-9wx5-cwv4
Exploitation outlook
EPSS (FIRST.org) estimates each CVE’s probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — here is the CSIRTS.com read on those numbers.
- Low exploitation riskCVE-2026-446440.20% 30-day exploitation probability — currently an unlikely target, but scores change as exploit code circulates. Riskier than 10% of all scored CVEs.
Referenced CVEs
| CVE | CSIRTS overview | External |
|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-44644 | coverage & exploitation status | NVD · CVE.org |
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