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PretalxApplication

CVE-2026-41241

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2026.1.0 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
pretalx is a conference planning tool. Prior to 2026.1.0, The organiser search in the pretalx backend rendered submission titles, speaker display names, and user names/emails into the result dropdown using innerHTML string interpolation. Any user who controls one of those fields (which includes any registered user whose display name is looked up by an administrator) could include HTML or JavaScript that would execute in an organiser's browser when the organiser's search query matched the malicious record. This vulnerability is fixed in 2026.1.0.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

pretalx versions prior to 2026.1.0 contain a stored XSS vulnerability in the backend organizer search function. User-controlled fields (submission titles, speaker display names, and user names/emails) are rendered into search result dropdowns using innerHTML string interpolation without sanitization, allowing injected HTML/JavaScript to execute in an organizer's browser when their search query matches the malicious record.

MitigationUpgrade to pretalx 2026.1.0 or later, which implements proper output encoding/sanitization for the organizer search results. Additionally, audit other areas of the application for similar innerHTML patterns that may not be sanitizing user-supplied content.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
PretalxApplication
Affected:< 2026.1.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine installed pretalx version
    Locate the pretalx version by checking the installation documentation, running 'pip show pretalx', or inspecting the version file in the pretalx installation directory. Compare the version number to the affected range of < 2026.1.0.
    Affected if The installed version is any release prior to 2026.1.0 (e.g., 2025.x.x or earlier).
  2. Verify organizer access to backend
    Confirm that your user account has organizer-level permissions in pretalx, allowing access to the backend search functionality used by event organizers.
    Affected if You have organizer or superuser access to the pretalx backend.
  3. Identify user-controlled content in the system
    Check the database or content management interface for records containing user-supplied data in the following fields: submission titles, speaker display names, and user names/emails. These fields are the injection points for the stored XSS.
    Affected if The pretalx instance contains any submissions, speakers, or user accounts with custom-supplied data in the affected fields.
  4. Test organizer search for XSS payload execution
    As an organizer, use the backend search function and query for a record containing a test XSS payload (e.g., <script>alert(1)</script>) in a submission title, speaker display name, or user field. Inspect the search result dropdown in the browser developer console to see if the payload renders as raw HTML rather than being escaped.
    Affected if The search results render unescaped HTML/JavaScript from user-supplied fields, indicating the innerHTML vulnerability is present.

You are affected if your pretalx installation version is below 2026.1.0 AND you have organizer access to the backend AND your instance contains user-supplied content in submission titles, speaker names, or user profiles that could be rendered in search results.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2026.1.0 or later
Fixed in 2026.1.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to pretalx 2026.1.0 or later, which implements proper output encoding/sanitization for the organizer search results. Additionally, audit other areas of the application for similar innerHTML patterns that may not be sanitizing user-supplied content.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

pretalx 2026.1.0

  1. 1. Backup your current pretalx installation and database before upgrading.
  2. 2. Upgrade pretalx to version 2026.1.0 or later using your deployment method (pip, docker, or package manager).
  3. 3. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the pretalx version number.
  4. 4. Test the organiser search functionality in the backend to confirm the XSS vulnerability is patched.
  5. 5. Ensure any registered users cannot inject malicious HTML/JavaScript through their display names, submission titles, or speaker profiles.
Caveat No breaking changes mentioned in the provided description; this is a security patch release.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Pretalx Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-41241 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data