High

Arbitrary HTML present after sanitization because of unicode normalization

  • Disclosed: 06.05.2024
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 15:17

Impact

If using keep_typographic_whitespace=False (which is the default), the sanitizer normalizes unicode to the NFKC form at the end. Some unicode characters normalize to chevrons; this allows specially crafted HTML to escape sanitization.

Patches

The problem has been fixed in 2.4.2.

Workarounds

Set keep_typographic_whitespace=True explicitly, or normalize to NFKC yourself earlier.

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) html-sanitizer < 2.4.2 2.4.2

References

CVSS score -
Weakness (CWE)
-
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
html-sanitizer
Disclosed
06.05.2024
Updated
11.10.2026 15:17

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-1455 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-wvhx-q427-fgh3 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: html-sanitizer

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

This is the only known vulnerability of this package.

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