CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-33916

MediumCVSS 4.7
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.28%

20th percentile - higher than 20% of all known CVEs

Summary

Handlebars versions 4.0.0 through 4.7.8 contain a flaw in resolvePartial() that resolves partial names via plain property lookup on options.partials without guarding against prototype-chain traversal. When Object.prototype is polluted with a string matching a partial reference, the polluted string is used as the partial body and rendered without HTML escaping, leading to XSS. Version 4.7.9 fixes the issue.

Risk Assessment

An attacker can exploit the vulnerability to conduct XSS attacks (reflected or stored), potentially stealing session data or performing actions on behalf of the user. However, this requires prior prototype pollution, which may be harder to achieve.

Recommendation

Update Handlebars to version 4.7.9 or later. As a workaround, consider freezing Object.prototype early in application startup or using the runtime-only build (handlebars/runtime).

Other vulnerabilities in Handlebars

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

Handlebars provides the power necessary to let users build semantic templates. In versions 4.0.0 through 4.7.8, `resolvePartial()` in the Handlebars runtime resolves partial names via a plain property lookup on `options.partials` without guarding against prototype-chain traversal. When `Object.prototype` has been polluted with a string value whose key matches a partial reference in a template, the polluted string is used as the partial body and rendered without HTML escaping, resulting in reflected or stored XSS. Version 4.7.9 fixes the issue. Some workarounds are available. Apply `Object.freeze(Object.prototype)` early in application startup to prevent prototype pollution. Note: this may break other libraries, and/or use the Handlebars runtime-only build (`handlebars/runtime`), which does not compile templates and reduces the attack surface.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS