Cross-site Scripting (XSS)Weakness · CWE-79

CVE-2026-48060

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
88/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 3 weeks old

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
Litestar is an Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface (ASGI) framework. Prior to version 2.20.0, Litestar instances which use a template engine in conjunction with CSRF protection are vulnerable to HTML Injection which can be escalated to Cross Site Scripting due to the contents of the CSRF cookie being excluded from automatic escaping by the template engine when configured inline with documentation recommendations. This issue has been patched in version 2.20.0.

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

Litestar versions prior to 2.20.0 are vulnerable to HTML Injection that can escalate to XSS when using the template engine with CSRF protection. The CSRF cookie value is not automatically escaped by the template engine when configured according to documentation recommendations, allowing attackers to inject malicious scripts via the cookie.

MitigationUpgrade Litestar to version 2.20.0 or later. This is a framework-level patch that fixes the template escaping behavior for CSRF cookie values.

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

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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Identify installed Litestar version
    Run `pip show litestar` or execute `import litestar; print(litestar.__version__)` in Python
    Affected if Version is lower than 2.20.0
  2. Confirm template engine usage
    Check application code for template rendering configuration, looking for TemplateConfig or similar template engine setup
    Affected if Templates are configured and rendered in the application
  3. Verify CSRF protection is enabled
    Inspect the application configuration for CSRF middleware or cookie configuration (look for CSRFConfig, cookie_name settings, or csrf middleware registration)
    Affected if CSRF protection is active and a CSRF cookie is configured
  4. Check for CSRF cookie value in templates
    Search template files (.html, .jinja2, etc.) for patterns like `{{ cookie_csrf_token }}` or similar references to CSRF cookie values that may be rendered without escaping
    Affected if Templates contain unescaped CSRF cookie value references (using {{ }} instead of {{- -}} with explicit escaping or the |safe filter was incorrectly applied)

User is affected if Litestar version is below 2.20.0 AND the application uses both the template engine with CSRF protection where CSRF cookie values are rendered in templates without proper escaping.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Litestar to version 2.20.0 or later. This is a framework-level patch that fixes the template escaping behavior for CSRF cookie values.

Recommended fix High confidence

litestar version 2.20.0

  1. 1. Identify the current Litestar version in your project by checking your dependencies (e.g., requirements.txt, pyproject.toml, or pip list)
  2. 2. Upgrade Litestar to version 2.20.0 or later using your package manager: pip install 'litestar>=2.20.0' or poetry update litestar
  3. 3. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking: pip show litestar or litestar --version
  4. 4. If your project uses a template engine with CSRF protection, review the updated documentation for version 2.20.0 to ensure proper configuration
  5. 5. Run your application's test suite to confirm the upgrade does not break existing functionality
  6. 6. Deploy the updated version to your environment
Caveat Minor version upgrades may include breaking changes; review the Litestar 2.20.0 changelog for any deprecation notices or migration requirements specific to template engine or CSRF protection usage

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,190
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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-2026-48060 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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