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.
Published: 2026-10-12
Score: 2.3 Low
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
AI Analysis

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Remediation

Vendor Solution

Upgrade Hex to 2.5.2 or later, for example with mix local.hex. Hex then escapes terminal control characters in text from hex.pm and the registry before printing it, and rejects registry dependencies whose package or repository name isn't a valid name.

Tracking

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Advisories

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History

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-117
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N'}

threat_severity

Moderate


Fri, 16 Oct 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Mon, 12 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Terminal escape sequence injection in Hex via unneutralized server-supplied output
First Time appeared Hexpm
Hexpm hex
Weaknesses CWE-150
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:hexpm:hex:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Hexpm
Hexpm hex
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 2.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: EEF

Published:

Updated: 2026-10-16T17:47:15.339Z

Reserved: 2026-08-31T00:45:02.431Z

Link: CVE-2026-81856

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-10-16T17:46:18.707Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Deferred

Published: 2026-10-12T16:17:05.827

Modified: 2026-10-16T18:18:37.903

Link: CVE-2026-81856

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2026-10-12T15:46:12Z

Links: CVE-2026-81856 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-10-20T12:45:15Z

Weaknesses