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markdown-it linkify: true has two quadratic paths, so a few hundred KB of markdown blocks the event loop for tens of seconds

Type: advisorySource: OSV1 source record

## Summary Two independent quadratic paths in the `linkify: true` handling. Both are in markdown-it's own code rather than in linkify-it, which stays linear on both payloads. `src/rules_core/linkify.ts` calls `arrayReplaceAt` once per linkified text token, and that rebuilds the whole `children` array each time. A paragraph of N soft-broken lines is one inline token with about 2N children, so you get N rebuilds over a 2N array. Schema-less emails are what reach it. A `http://` link gets consumed by the inline rule first and never arrives as a text token, so those stay linear. `src/rules_inline/linkify.ts` runs `state.pending.match(SCHEME_RE)` at every `://` in the source. `state.pending` only gets truncated once a link is actually produced, so an unregistered scheme leaves it growing and every `://` rescans the lot. ## Proof of concept Clean install of 15.0.0 from npm, `new MarkdownIt({ linkify: true }).render(payload)`, Node 24. | N | 5,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 40,000 | |---|---|---|---|---| | `'a@b.co\n'.repeat(N)`, 34KB to 273KB | 1.1s | 4.7s | 19.6s | 89s | | `'a://'.repeat(N)`, 20KB to 156KB | 0.25s | 0.76s | 3.1s | 15.0s | Doubling the input roughly quadruples the time in both. With `linkify: false` the same inputs run in 25 to 131ms and stay flat. Controls for the first one, all at N=20000: putting every email in a single text token (`'a@b.co '`) takes 0.59s, one email per paragraph (`'a@b.co\n\n'`) takes 0.64s, and soft-broken lines with nothing linkifiable take 42ms. S

Announced Source revision 1
Original source ↗

GHSA-253c-mchw-3w2r

Primary source · Revision 1

Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.

Security context

Source reference: osv:GHSA-253c-mchw-3w2r

markdown-it

Source reference: /affected/0/package/name

Affected versions
15.0.0

Source reference: /affected/0/versions

Fixed versions
15.0.1

Source reference: /affected/0/ranges

Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

markdown-it

Source reference: /affected/1/package/name

Affected versions
Not stated in this record
Fixed versions
14.3.1

Source reference: /affected/1/ranges

Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

Structured affected-version data

Original package identities and version rules from this source.

[
  {
    "ranges": [
      {
        "type": "SEMVER",
        "events": [
          {
            "introduced": "15.0.0"
          },
          {
            "fixed": "15.0.1"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "package": {
      "name": "markdown-it",
      "purl": "pkg:npm/markdown-it",
      "ecosystem": "npm"
    },
    "versions": [
      "15.0.0"
    ],
    "database_specific": {
      "source": "https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/09/GHSA-253c-mchw-3w2r/GHSA-253c-mchw-3w2r.json"
    }
  },
  {
    "ranges": [
      {
        "type": "SEMVER",
        "events": [
          {
            "introduced": "0"
          },
          {
            "fixed": "14.3.1"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "package": {
      "name": "markdown-it",
      "purl": "pkg:npm/markdown-it",
      "ecosystem": "npm"
    },
    "database_specific": {
      "source": "https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/09/GHSA-253c-mchw-3w2r/GHSA-253c-mchw-3w2r.json"
    }
  }
]

Publisher severity

No explicit severity was provided.

Event
#29748 · Revision 1
Added to Heist Feed
Publisher date
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