CVE-2026-63466

ADVISORY - github

Summary

Vulnerability Details

File: src/lib/addons/feature-event-formatter-md.ts Line: 355 (in v8.0.1; format() method)

Root Cause

FeatureEventFormatterMd.format() does:

Mustache.escape = (text) => text;
const text = Mustache.render(action, context);

mustache (pinned ^4.2.0, confirmed installed 4.2.0) keeps escape as a module-level singleton (mustache.js: mustache.escape = escapeHtml;), read by every Mustache.render() call in the process unless a per-call config.escape override is passed (var escape = this.getConfigEscape(config) || mustache.escape;). Node's module cache guarantees every import Mustache from 'mustache' in the process — feature-event-formatter-md.ts, email-service.ts, webhook.ts, datadog.ts, new-relic.ts — shares the same object instance.

This assignment therefore permanently disables HTML escaping for every other Mustache.render() call in the same Node process (including email-service.ts templates) from the moment any single notification addon (Webhook, Slack legacy, Microsoft Teams, Datadog, New Relic) first formats any event, for the remaining lifetime of the process.

feature-event-formatter-md-events.ts (EVENT_MAP) confirms the blast radius: nearly every event's action template interpolates attacker-controlled values with single-mustache (intended-to-be-escaped) syntax, most importantly {{user}}, which is event.createdBy — the acting account's username (or email if set; src/lib/util/extract-user.ts: extractUsernameFromUser). Neither username nor name have any charset/length validation anywhere in the codebase (create-user-schema.ts, create-invited-user-schema.ts, user-service.ts:289 only does Joi.assert(name, Joi.string(), 'Name') — a type check, nothing more).

Slack's own API docs require &, <, > to be replaced with &amp;, &lt;, &gt; before sending user-generated text, specifically so Slack's mrkdwn parser does not interpret it as <url|label> link syntax. Mustache's default escapeHtml happens to produce exactly those entities, so this was (likely unintentionally) the application's only defense against link-injection in chat notifications — and it is unconditionally switched off by the same code path that depends on it.

Attack Scenario

  1. Admin has a Webhook, Slack (legacy), Microsoft Teams, Datadog, or New Relic integration configured (a very common production setup for flag-change notifications).
  2. Attacker has (or self-registers, if public signup is enabled — POST /invite/:token/signup is permission: NONE) any Editor-level account and sets username to e.g. evil<https://attacker.example/urgent-rollback|Click here to view incident>.
  3. Attacker performs any ordinary write action (create/update/toggle a feature flag — routine, no special privilege beyond Editor on one project).
  4. The configured addon's handleEvent() calls this.msgFormatter.format(event), which mutates the global escape function and immediately renders the {{user}}-containing template with escaping disabled.
  5. The resulting message — containing the attacker's raw <url|label> Slack link syntax — is POSTed to the team's Slack/Teams channel or webhook endpoint and rendered as a real, clickable, attacker-labeled hyperlink inside a trusted automated notification feed.

Vulnerable Code

Mustache.escape = (text) => text;

const text = Mustache.render(action, context);
const url = path
    ? `${this.unleashUrl}${Mustache.render(path, context)}`
    : undefined;

Impact

  • Stored markdown/link-injection (phishing-link injection) into any configured outbound notification channel (Slack legacy, MS Teams, Webhook default markdown, Datadog, New Relic), using an attacker-controlled username — no admin privilege required, only Editor on a single project, and potentially reachable through public self-signup.
  • Secondary: loss of HTML escaping for any other reachable Mustache single-mustache placeholder process-wide until restart (increases severity of any other currently-unreached or future Mustache sink, e.g. email templates).
  • Tertiary: a custom Webhook bodyTemplate that interpolates raw event/user fields directly into a JSON string literal (rather than the pre-escaped eventJson field the code already provides for this purpose) can have its JSON structure broken by an attacker-controlled " character once the global escape function is neutered.

Recommended Fix

Never mutate the shared Mustache.escape global. Pass a local escape function via Mustache's per-call render option instead (supported and typed in @types/mustache@4.2.6's RenderOptions.escape):

const renderConfig = { escape: (text: string) => text };
const text = Mustache.render(action, context, undefined, renderConfig);
const url = path
    ? `${this.unleashUrl}${Mustache.render(path, context, undefined, renderConfig)}`
    : undefined;

Verification

Dynamically confirmed on v8.0.1 in a local Docker lab (official unleashorg/unleash-server:8.0.1 image + Postgres 15):

  • Created a Webhook addon with the addon UI's own placeholder bodyTemplate ({{event.createdBy}} etc.), pointed at a local listener.
  • Created an Editor-role user with username = evil2<https://attacker.example/urgent-rollback|Click here to view incident> (accepted with HTTP 201, no sanitization).
  • Logged in as that user and created a feature flag (ordinary Editor action).
  • Captured webhook payload: "createdBy": "evil2<https://attacker.example/urgent-rollback|Click here to view incident>"<, >, | completely unescaped, live Slack link-injection syntax.
  • Control test with the same pinned mustache@4.2.0 package confirmed the default (pre-bug) output for the same string would have been evil2&lt;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;attacker.example&#x2F;urgent-rollback|Click here to view incident&gt; — i.e. the single global assignment is solely responsible for the unescaped output observed live.

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

ADVISORY - nist

Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output

ADVISORY - github

Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output


GitHub

CREATED

UPDATED

EXPLOITABILITY SCORE

2.3

EXPLOITS FOUND
-
COMMON WEAKNESS ENUMERATION (CWE)

CVSS SCORE

4.1medium
PackageTypeOS NameOS VersionAffected RangesFix Versions
unleash-servernpm--<8.0.38.0.3

CVSS:3 Severity and metrics

The CVSS metrics represent different qualitative aspects of a vulnerability that impact the overall score, as defined by the CVSS Specification.

The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone). One example of an Adjacent attack would be an ARP (IPv4) or neighbor discovery (IPv6) flood leading to a denial of service on the local LAN segment (e.g., CVE-2013-6014).

Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success when attacking the vulnerable component.

The attacker requires privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges has the ability to access only non-sensitive resources.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited. For example, a successful exploit may only be possible during the installation of an application by a system administrator.

An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.

There is no loss of confidentiality.

Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.

There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

NIST

CREATED

UPDATED

EXPLOITABILITY SCORE

2.3

EXPLOITS FOUND
-
COMMON WEAKNESS ENUMERATION (CWE)

CVSS SCORE

4.1medium