CVE-2026-68749: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-8rjf-8hw9-j63g
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-1333
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-68749 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when the product uses a regular expression with a worst-case computational complexity that is inefficient and possibly exponential.. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2026-68749 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-68749
GHSA Identifier GHSA-8rjf-8hw9-j63g
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2026-68749

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2026-68749, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity, where the product uses a regular expression with a worst-case computational complexity that is inefficient and possibly exponential. In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

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 1.5.3.

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex/security/advisories/GHSA-4cx2-987x-rr2x
NVD — CVE-2026-68749 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-68749
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex/commit/4f4bd9eb254881462c0461fbab74b29188c2c133
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex/commit/b673df33ddf982c8bd0a8bd6348aa247080b3b14
cna.erlef.org/cves/cve-2026-68749... WEB
https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-68749.html
osv.dev/vulnerability/eef-c... WEB
https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-68749

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-68749?
CVE-2026-68749 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2026-68749?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-68749?
CVE-2026-68749 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-68749?
CVE-2026-68749 is classified under CWE-1333: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity (The product uses a regular expression with a worst-case computational complexity that is inefficient and possibly exponential.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2026-68749?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-8rjf-8hw9-j63g",
  "modified" : "2026-08-19T12:32:22Z",
  "published" : "2026-08-06T18:30:50Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-68749" ],
  "details" : "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.\n\nThe impact is CPU exhaustion only. Nothing is read, modified or disclosed.\n\nThis issue affects html_sanitize_ex: from 0.3.1 before 1.5.3.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex/security/advisories/GHSA-4cx2-987x-rr2x"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-68749"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex/commit/4f4bd9eb254881462c0461fbab74b29188c2c133"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/rrrene/html_sanitize_ex/commit/b673df33ddf982c8bd0a8bd6348aa247080b3b14"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-68749.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-68749"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-1333" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-08-06T16:16:51Z"
  }
}