CVE-2026-16231: hbs_project hbs Cross-site Scripting

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-16231 is a high (CVSS 8.1) Cross-site Scripting vulnerability in hbs_project hbs. EPSS estimates a 0.23% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 12.6% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 25-08-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 25-08-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

hbs is an Express view engine that wraps Handlebars. Its registerAsyncHelper API bypasses Handlebars' automatic HTML escaping: an async helper returns an opaque placeholder during the first render pass, so the double-brace expression escapes only the placeholder, and after rendering hbs substitutes the placeholder with the raw callback return value without escaping it, across the cached, uncached, and layout render paths. An application that passes attacker-influenced data, for example user-supplied content from a database, into an async helper callback can therefore have arbitrary HTML and JavaScript injected into the server-rendered page, resulting in stored or reflected cross-site scripting. Versions 2.1.0 through 4.2.1 are affected, and the issue is fixed in 4.3.0, which HTML-escapes async helper output. Applications that intentionally emit raw HTML from an async helper can opt in explicitly with hbs.SafeString. Users should upgrade to 4.3.0.

• CWE-79Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users.