---
id: CVE-2026-111759
title: 'markdown-it: Quadratic complexity in smartquotes with unmatched closing quotes'
summary: >-
  markdown-it is a Markdown parser. Prior to 14.3.2 and 15.0.2, when
  typographer: true is enabled, specially crafted Markdown can cause quadratic
  processing time in the smartquotes rule, potentially leading to denial of
  service in applicat…
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-400
  - CWE-407
vendor: markdown-it
product: markdown-it
affected:
  - 'markdown-it >= 15.0.0, < 15.0.2'
  - markdown-it < 14.3.2
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'yes'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-10-19T18:22:34.328088Z'
exploitAvailable: true
published: '2026-10-19'
updated: '2026-10-19'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-19T18:22:54.696Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-111759'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/security/advisories/GHSA-r7fv-28h4-cvq7
    label: >-
      https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/security/advisories/GHSA-r7fv-28h4-cvq7
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/commit/1b379c1b6d0522421bd1a51b77337c79af2c8670
    label: >-
      https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/commit/1b379c1b6d0522421bd1a51b77337c79af2c8670
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/commit/cf27366035edf9196667110c47d9d67b030a4152
    label: >-
      https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/commit/cf27366035edf9196667110c47d9d67b030a4152
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/commit/daf5a3c32303e5d9de01b12eeb725fb5990b8162
    label: >-
      https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/commit/daf5a3c32303e5d9de01b12eeb725fb5990b8162
  - url: 'https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/releases/tag/14.3.2'
    label: 'https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/releases/tag/14.3.2'
  - url: 'https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/releases/tag/15.0.2'
    label: 'https://github.com/markdown-it/markdown-it/releases/tag/15.0.2'
tags:
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
ingestedAt: '2026-10-19T18:35:50.126Z'
---

## Overview

markdown-it is a Markdown parser. Prior to 14.3.2 and 15.0.2, when typographer: true is enabled, specially crafted Markdown can cause quadratic processing time in the smartquotes rule, potentially leading to denial of service in applications processing untrusted input. Many opening double quotes followed by unmatched closing single quotes cause repeated scans of the entire opener stack. The same issue occurs with the quote types reversed. The default configuration (typographer: false) is not affected, but this option is enabled with high probability. This issue is fixed in versions 14.3.2 and 15.0.2.

## Affected

- `markdown-it >= 15.0.0, < 15.0.2`
- `markdown-it < 14.3.2`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.