xmldom up to 0.6.0/0.8.14/0.9.11 Processing Instruction lib/dom.js Document.createProcessingInstruction Target injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in xmldom up to 0.6.0/0.8.14/0.9.11. It has been classified as critical. This impacts the function Document.createProcessingInstruction of the file lib/dom.js of the component Processing Instruction. The manipulation of the argument Target leads to injection. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-83616. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in xmldom up to 0.6.0/0.8.14/0.9.11. This issue affects the function Document.createProcessingInstruction of the file lib/dom.js of the component Processing Instruction. The manipulation of the argument target with an unknown input leads to a injection vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-74. The product constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify how it is parsed or interpreted when it is sent to a downstream component. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

xmldom is a pure JavaScript W3C standard-based (XML DOM Level 2 Core) DOMParser and XMLSerializer module. Prior to @xmldom/xmldom versions 0.8.15 and 0.9.12, and in xmldom version 0.6.0 and earlier, Document.createProcessingInstruction(target, data) in lib/dom.js accepts an unvalidated target, while the requireWellFormed: true serializer checks only for a colon and the reserved case-insensitive xml name on 0.9.x and performs no target check on 0.8.x. Because serialization emits <?target data?>, a target containing >, ?, whitespace, or another invalid XML-name character can break the processing-instruction boundary and inject XML structure. This issue is fixed in @xmldom/xmldom versions 0.8.15 and 0.9.12; no fixed version is available for xmldom.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-83616 since 08/31/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1055 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 0.8.15 or 0.9.12 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Name

• xmldom

Version

• 0.1
• 0.2
• 0.3
• 0.4
• 0.5
• 0.6.0
• 0.8.0
• 0.8.1
• 0.8.2
• 0.8.3
• 0.8.4
• 0.8.5
• 0.8.6
• 0.8.7
• 0.8.8
• 0.8.9
• 0.8.10
• 0.8.11
• 0.8.12
• 0.8.13
• 0.8.14
• 0.9.0
• 0.9.1
• 0.9.2
• 0.9.3
• 0.9.4
• 0.9.5
• 0.9.6
• 0.9.7
• 0.9.8
• 0.9.9
• 0.9.10
• 0.9.11

Website

• Product: https://github.com/xmldom/xmldom/

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