CVE-2026-42857
MediumWhat is CVE-2026-42857?
Open edX Platform enables the authoring and delivery of online learning at any scale. The HTML sanitizer clean_thread_html_body() used for discussion notification emails fails to remove <style> tags from user-generated discussion post content. This content is rendered with Django's |safe template filter in email notification templates, allowing any enrolled student to inject arbitrary CSS into email notifications sent to other users. This enables email tracking (IP address disclosure), content spoofing, and phishing attacks. This vulnerability is fixed with commit cddc25cd791bb78f76833896e4778f668861df12.
CVSS Vector Breakdown
CVSS 3.1Exploitable remotely over the network without requiring access to the local system.
No special conditions required. Exploit can be performed reliably and repeatedly.
Basic user account required (e.g. standard login without admin rights).
Victim must take an action (e.g. click a link, open a file) for the exploit to succeed.
Exploiting the vulnerability only affects the vulnerable component itself.
Some sensitive information is disclosed, but attacker has limited access.
Attacker can modify some data, but scope or consequence is limited.
No availability impact. Service remains fully operational.
FAQ
CVE-2026-42857 has a CVSS score of 4.6/10, rated as Medium. Review the affected products list and apply vendor patches.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) rates vulnerability severity from 0.0 to 10.0. CVE-2026-42857 scores 4.6/10 (Medium). Scores 9.0–10.0 are Critical, 7.0–8.9 are High, 4.0–6.9 are Medium, and below 4.0 are Low.
The list of devices confirmed to be affected by CVE-2026-42857 is shown in the "Affected Devices" section above. Check your firmware version against the vendor security advisory and apply the latest patch.
Apply the latest firmware or software update from the vendor. Check the References section above for official advisories and patch notes. If no patch is available, consider disabling the affected feature or isolating the device from untrusted networks.