# CVE-2024-13896: WP-GeSHi-Highlight <= 1.4.3 - Author+ ReDoS

> An attacker can cause a denial of service in the WP-GeSHi-Highlight WordPress plugin by submitting input that triggers excessive regular expression processing.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 10 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 27 Aug 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8h58-9hjg-3xqh

## What is CVE-2024-13896?

CVE-2024-13896 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Unknown WP-GeSHi-Highlight — rock-solid syntax highlighting for 259 languages, published on 10 Apr 2025. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The WP-GeSHi-Highlight — rock-solid syntax highlighting for 259 languages WordPress plugin through 1.4.3 processes user-supplied input as a regular expression via the wp_geshi_filter_replace_code() function, which could lead to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) issue

Weakness: CWE-1333 (Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-13896?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Jgehrcke Wp-Geshi-Highlight.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-13896?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-13896 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-13896 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-13896 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-13896 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-13896 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Unknown WP-GeSHi-Highlight — rock-solid syntax highlighting for 259 languages, published on 10 Apr 2025. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-13896 exists.

Affected product: Unknown WP-GeSHi-Highlight — rock-solid syntax highlighting for 259 languages. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13896/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13896/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-13896
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-13896
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-13896

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13896/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.