CVE-2026-33916CWE-1321CWE-79

Handlebars.js has Prototype Pollution Leading to XSS through Partial Template Injection

Medium · published March 27, 2026

CVSS v3.1
4.7
EPSS
0%
Percentile
31.0
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

Handlebars provides the power necessary to let users build semantic templates. In versions 4.0.0 through 4.7.8, `resolvePartial()` in the Handlebars runtime resolves partial names via a plain property lookup on `options.partials` without guarding against prototype-chain traversal. When `Object.prototype` has been polluted with a string value whose key matches a partial reference in a template, the polluted string is used as the partial body and rendered without HTML escaping, resulting in reflected or stored XSS. Version 4.7.9 fixes the issue. Some workarounds are available. Apply `Object.freeze(Object.prototype)` early in application startup to prevent prototype pollution. Note: this may break other libraries, and/or use the Handlebars runtime-only build (`handlebars/runtime`), which does not compile templates and reduces the attack surface.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
4.7 · MEDIUM
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00382 · 31.0th percentile
Weaknesses
CWE-1321 · Improperly Controlled Modification of Object Prototype Attributes ('Prototype Pollution'); CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Published
2026-03-27T21:00Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 27 MAR 21:00Z
    Handlebars.js has Prototype Pollution Leading to XSS through Partial Template Injection
    cvelistv5