CVE-2026-68921

CVE-2026-68921 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in @dicebear/core (npm), affecting versions <= 9.4.2. It is fixed in 9.4.3.

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Summary

DiceBear: SVG injection via the unescaped rotate option in @dicebear/core (and fontSize/fontWeight in @dicebear/initials)

@dicebear/core builds avatar SVGs from caller-supplied options. The numeric rotate option is interpolated into an SVG transform attribute without XML-escaping. It is typed as a number, but nothing checks the type at runtime, so a string value passes straight through and can break out of the attribute to inject arbitrary SVG markup.

This is the same root cause as CVE-2026-33311 (GHSA-mr9r-mww3-v6gv), which escaped the string options backgroundColor, fontFamily, and textColor but did not cover rotate. @dicebear/initials has the same gap in its numeric fontSize and fontWeight options.

Workarounds

If you cannot upgrade, coerce the affected options to a number before passing them to createAvatar:

rotate: Number(userInput) || 0,

Credits

Reported by @rz1027.

Impact

Cross-site scripting (CWE-79). When the generated avatar is rendered inline (for example via innerHTML) or served as image/svg+xml and opened directly, injected markup such as an <image onerror> handler runs script in the page's origin.

Exploitation requires the application to pass untrusted input into one of these options:

  • rotate (@dicebear/core)
  • fontSize, fontWeight (@dicebear/initials)

In most integrations these options are set by the developer and only seed is user-controlled, so the vulnerable configuration is uncommon. Applications that use trusted, hardcoded values for these options are not at risk.

Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session. Typical impact: session or credential theft, and actions taken as the user.

CVE-2026-68921 has a CVSS score of 4.7 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (9.4.3); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Affected versions

@dicebear/core (<= 9.4.2) @dicebear/initials (<= 9.4.2)

Security releases

@dicebear/core → 9.4.3 (npm) @dicebear/initials → 9.4.3 (npm)

Kodem intelligence

Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.

Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.

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Remediation advice

Fixed in @dicebear/core 9.4.3 and @dicebear/initials 9.4.3: the values are now XML-escaped before being written into the SVG, matching the CVE-2026-33311 fix. Upgrade to 9.4.3 or later.

The 5.x through 8.x lines share the same flaw but are end-of-life and will not receive a backport; upgrade to 9.4.3. The 10.x line is not affected.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is CVE-2026-68921? CVE-2026-68921 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in @dicebear/core (npm), affecting versions <= 9.4.2. It is fixed in 9.4.3. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
  2. How severe is CVE-2026-68921? CVE-2026-68921 has a CVSS score of 4.7 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
  3. Which packages are affected by CVE-2026-68921?
    • @dicebear/core (npm) (versions <= 9.4.2)
    • @dicebear/initials (npm) (versions <= 9.4.2)
  4. Is there a fix for CVE-2026-68921? Yes. CVE-2026-68921 is fixed in 9.4.3. Upgrade to this version or later.
  5. Is CVE-2026-68921 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-68921 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
  6. What actually determines whether CVE-2026-68921 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
  7. How do I fix CVE-2026-68921?
    • Upgrade @dicebear/core to 9.4.3 or later
    • Upgrade @dicebear/initials to 9.4.3 or later

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