Google html up to 0.61.x Text Node Coalescing addText/fosterParent algorithmic complexity

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as problematic has been detected in Google html up to 0.61.x. This affects the function addText/fosterParent of the component Text Node Coalescing. The manipulation leads to algorithmic complexity. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-78661. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Google html up to 0.61.x. This issue affects the function addText/fosterParent of the component Text Node Coalescing. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a algorithmic complexity vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-407. An algorithm in a product has an inefficient worst-case computational complexity that may be detrimental to system performance and can be triggered by an attacker, typically using crafted manipulations that ensure that the worst case is being reached. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

When coalescing adjacent text nodes in addText and fosterParent, appending to an existing TextNode's Data via string concatenation (n.Data += text) reallocated and copied the accumulated string on every token. Inputs containing many short text runs separated by ignored end tags (such as "a</x>") caused O(n^2) allocations and byte copies. Accumulate coalesced text in per-node byte slices during parsing and materialize Data strings once at the end of parse.

The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-78661 since 08/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/27/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1499 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 0.62.0 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• Google

Name

• html

Version

• 0.1
• 0.2
• 0.3
• 0.4
• 0.5
• 0.6
• 0.7
• 0.8
• 0.9
• 0.10
• 0.11
• 0.12
• 0.13
• 0.14
• 0.15
• 0.16
• 0.17
• 0.18
• 0.19
• 0.20
• 0.21
• 0.22
• 0.23
• 0.24
• 0.25
• 0.26
• 0.27
• 0.28
• 0.29
• 0.30
• 0.31
• 0.32
• 0.33
• 0.34
• 0.35
• 0.36
• 0.37
• 0.38
• 0.39
• 0.40
• 0.41
• 0.42
• 0.43
• 0.44
• 0.45
• 0.46
• 0.47
• 0.48
• 0.49
• 0.50
• 0.51
• 0.52
• 0.53
• 0.54
• 0.55
• 0.56
• 0.57
• 0.58
• 0.59
• 0.60
• 0.61

License

• free

Website

• Vendor: https://www.google.com/

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