OCTOBER 13, 2026
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Case File

CVE-2026-81856

LOW · CVSS 2.3 Public Exploit

Source: NVD + CISA KEV + EPSS · Published 2026-10-12 · Last synced 2026-10-13

CyberRota Analysis

AI-Generated

The vulnerability allows malicious package publishers to inject terminal control sequences into the output of Mix tasks, potentially leading to misleading or harmful terminal displays. This can result in forged URLs, altered package descriptions, or unauthorized clipboard writes without requiring authentication or elevated privileges. Developers and organizations using affected versions of hex (0.0.1 to before 2.5.2) should prioritize addressing this issue to mitigate risks associated with malicious package content.

Public Exploit Signal

A public exploit, PoC, GitHub repository or Metasploit reference was detected for this CVE.

Note: these links are listed for security research and verification purposes only.

CVE
CVE-2026-81856
Severity
LOW
CVSS
2.3
EPSS
N/A

Original NVD Description

Improper Neutralization of Escape, Meta, or Control Sequences vulnerability in hexpm hex allows a malicious package publisher or a hostile repository server to inject terminal control sequences into the output of Mix tasks. Hex prints strings supplied by the package repository and the documentation search service straight to the terminal through Hex.Shell.info/1 and Hex.Shell.error/1, neutralizing no control characters. Affected sinks span package metadata and configuration snippets in mix hex.info, search results in mix hex.package search and mix hex.search, owner and organization listings, publish and sponsor URLs, the authenticated username in mix hex.user, policy identities in mix hex.policy, and API error bodies rendered by Hex.Utils.print_error_result/1. A malicious package can embed ANSI escape sequences (cursor movement, line erase, carriage returns, OSC 52 clipboard writes) or Unicode bidirectional overrides in any of those fields, so the bytes reach the terminal unchanged, forging displayed URLs, package descriptions and suggested commands, concealing real output, or writing to the clipboard. No authentication or privileged position is required; only publishing a package. This issue affects hex: from 0.0.1 before 2.5.2.