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Medium

Go html/template meta content URL escaping bypass XSS

IdentifiersCVE-2026-39823CWE-79· Improper Neutralization of Input…

CVE-2026-39823 is a cross-site scripting vulnerability in Go's html/template package involving URL escaping within a <meta> tag's content attribute. The flaw is a bypass in the contextual escaper: when attacker-controlled URL content inserted ASCII whitespace around the '=' character inside the content attribute value, the escaper did not correctly sanitize and escape the input for that context. As a result, malformed attribute content could break out of the intended URL/value interpretation and be rendered in a way that enables script injection in generated HTML. The issue is described as related to the earlier CVE-2026-27142 fix, with this CVE covering the meta content attribute case. The fix sanitizes whitespace in dynamic inputs before escaping.

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Impact

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Successful exploitation can result in reflected or stored XSS in applications that render attacker-controlled data into a <meta> tag's content attribute using html/template. An attacker may be able to inject script-capable markup into the generated page, leading to execution of arbitrary JavaScript in the victim's browser within the origin of the vulnerable application. This can enable session theft, credential capture, DOM manipulation, CSRF facilitation, and other client-side compromise impacts typical of XSS.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate upgrade is not possible, avoid placing untrusted or attacker-influenced data into <meta> tag content attributes where URL semantics are expected. Apply strict server-side validation and normalization to such inputs, especially rejecting or canonicalizing ASCII whitespace around '=' and other malformed attribute-like sequences before template rendering. Where feasible, remove unnecessary dynamic generation of meta content values and enforce defense-in-depth controls such as CSP, recognizing that CSP does not eliminate the underlying templating flaw.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade to a fixed Go release that includes the html/template correction for CVE-2026-39823. The provided context indicates the issue was addressed in the Go security releases 1.26.3 and 1.25.10. The fix sanitizes ASCII whitespace in dynamic inputs to the affected attribute context prior to escaping.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

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VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

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GolangGoapplication

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