# CVE-2026-48822: Shaarli stored XSS in Markdown reference links

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-48822-shaarli-stored-xss-in-markdown-reference-links  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-06-17. Updated: 2026-06-20  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-48822 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.8 · Published 2026-06-17

Shaarli is a personal bookmarking service used to save and share web links. A security flaw allows an authorized user to create a bookmark with a malicious description that, when clicked by another user or administrator, executes unauthorized code in their browser. This could lead to account takeover, theft of sensitive session information, or unauthorized actions performed on behalf of the victim.

Technologies: [Shaarli](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/shaarli). Vendors: [Shaarli](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/shaarli).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-48822 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-48822 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-48822?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.8, published 17 June 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Shaarli <= 0.16.1.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-48822?** A patch was published on 2026-05-23: Version 0.16.2 released Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-48822 attacked?** It is attacked with local access, in a network appliance.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-48822?** Check whether you run Shaarli at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

A stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in Shaarli versions 0.16.1 and prior due to insufficient sanitization in the BookmarkMarkdownFormatter.php component. The filterProtocols method uses a regular expression designed only to catch inline Markdown links, failing to account for reference-style Markdown links which are resolved after the initial preprocessing. An authenticated attacker with high privileges can inject a 'javascript:' URI into a reference-style link definition within a bookmark description. When a victim clicks the rendered link, the payload executes in the context of their session. This issue is resolved in version 0.16.2 by improving the sanitization of href protocols in rendered Markdown.

## Affected products

- Shaarli Shaarli <= 0.16.1

## Timeline

- 2026-05-23: patched: Version 0.16.2 released
- 2026-05-23: advisory: GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-2hgr-63wv-x462 published
- 2026-06-17: disclosed: CVE-2026-48822 published to NVD

## References

- [https://github.com/shaarli/Shaarli/releases/tag/v0.16.2](https://github.com/shaarli/Shaarli/releases/tag/v0.16.2)
- [https://github.com/shaarli/Shaarli/security/advisories/GHSA-2hgr-63wv-x462](https://github.com/shaarli/Shaarli/security/advisories/GHSA-2hgr-63wv-x462)

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