CVE-2024-28244

Name of the Vulnerable Software and Affected Versions KaTeX versions prior to 0.16.10

Description KaTeX is a JavaScript library for TeX math rendering on the web. Users who render untrusted mathematical expressions could encounter malicious input using def or ewcommand that causes a near-infinite loop, despite setting maxExpand to avoid such loops. KaTeX supports an option named maxExpand which aims to prevent infinitely recursive macros from consuming all available memory and/or triggering a stack overflow error. Unfortunately, support for Unicode (sub|super)script characters allows an attacker to bypass this limit. Each sub/superscript group instantiated a separate Parser with its own limit on macro executions, without inheriting the current count of macro executions from its parent.

Recommendations Upgrade to KaTeX v0.16.10 to remove this vulnerability. As a temporary workaround, consider forbidding inputs containing any of the characters ₊₋₌₍₎₀₁₂₃₄₅₆₇₈₉ₐₑₕᵢⱼₖₗₘₙₒₚᵣₛₜᵤᵥₓᵦᵧᵨᵩᵪ⁺⁻⁼⁽⁾⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹ᵃᵇᶜᵈᵉᵍʰⁱʲᵏˡᵐⁿᵒᵖʳˢᵗᵘʷˣʸᶻᵛᵝᵞᵟᵠᵡ before passing them to KaTeX.