CVE-2026-97701
Zulip: Missing content-length limit on POST /messages/render allows denial-of-service via oversized requests
What happened?
Zulip is an open-source team collaboration tool. In Zulip Server versions through 12.1, the authenticated POST /messages/render endpoint renders the content parameter without enforcing the normal message length limit used by message send and edit operations. An authenticated user can submit Markdown up to the server body-size limit, causing disproportionate backend CPU consumption, and repeated or concurrent requests can degrade Markdown rendering performance or backend availability for other users. This issue is fixed in version 12.2.
Affected software and versions
| Software | Version information | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| zulipzulip | affected: < 12.2 | See vendor advisory |
Version information comes from the source record and can include unaffected products and exceptions. Distribution packages may contain backported fixes: an older upstream version alone does not prove a server is affected.
Is it being exploited?
This CVE was not listed in the CISA catalogue at our last retrieval. This does not establish that exploitation is absent.
How to respond
- Confirm the product, installed package version, and any configuration requirements in the vendor advisory.
- Follow the vendor’s remediation or workaround guidance in the references below. Structured fixed-version data is unavailable here; the publisher’s description may include a fix or workaround.
- Restart affected services if required, then verify the running version. Known exploitation may warrant investigation as well as patching.
Sources and remediation references
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-97701
- https://github.com/zulip/zulip/security/advisories/GHSA-m257-w4r5-5rmf
- https://github.com/zulip/zulip/pull/39913
- https://github.com/zulip/zulip/commit/31773c77c501391ede0fa8ec727f39508664e0ae
- https://github.com/zulip/zulip/commit/4d94dd2ee6337a4b3351694dd314a45d3fe11031
- https://github.com/zulip/zulip/releases/tag/12.2
- https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/overview/changelog.html#zulip-server-12-2