# CVE-2026-85271: Cross-site scripting in openedx-platform

> An attacker can inject CSS into email digests via unsanitized thread titles, enabling tracking and phishing when victims open emails in CSS-rendering clients.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 18 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 22 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rv5w-f4r5-h77g

## What is CVE-2026-85271?

CVE-2026-85271 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in openedx-platform, published on 18 Sep 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Open edX Platform enables the authoring and delivery of online learning at any scale. From Redwood until Ulmo and Verawood.1, the add_additional_attributes_to_notifications function in openedx/core/djangoapps/notifications/email/utils.py assigns notification content without sanitizing discussion-title values produced by get_notification_content in openedx/core/djangoapps/notifications/base_notification.py. An enrolled student can place CSS-capable markup in the post_title value supplied by lms/djangoapps/discussion/rest_api/discussions_notifications.py. Digest and batched-email rendering then passes that value through openedx/core/djangoapps/notifications/templates/notifications/digest_content.html as safe HTML, allowing email-open tracking and content spoofing or phishing when another learner opens a CSS-rendering client. The immediate-email path is not affected because it strips title markup and renders a separately sanitized body. This issue is fixed in Ulmo and Verawood.1.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-85271?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-85271?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-85271 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-85271 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-85271 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-85271 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-85271 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in openedx-platform, published on 18 Sep 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-85271 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: openedx-platform. 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-2026-85271/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-85271/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-85271
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-85271
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-85271

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-85271/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.