CVE-2026-33939

Summary

Handlebars provides the power necessary to let users build semantic templates. In versions 4.0.0 through 4.7.8, when a Handlebars template contains decorator syntax referencing an unregistered decorator (e.g. {{*n}}), the compiled template calls lookupProperty(decorators, "n"), which returns undefined. The runtime then immediately invokes the result as a function, causing an unhandled TypeError: ... is not a function that crashes the Node.js process. Any application that compiles user-supplied templates without wrapping the call in a try/catch is vulnerable to a single-request Denial of Service. Version 4.7.9 fixes the issue. Some workarounds are available. Wrap compilation and rendering in try/catch. Validate template input before passing it to compile(); reject templates containing decorator syntax ({{*...}}) if decorators are not used in your application. Use the pre-compilation workflow; compile templates at build time and serve only pre-compiled templates; do not call compile() at request time.

Affected Software

VendorProductVersion RangeStatus
handlebars-langhandlebars.js>= 4.0.0, < 4.7.9affected

Weaknesses

  • CWE-754: CWE-754: Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions

ADP Enrichment

CISA ADP Vulnrichment

  • SSVC:
  • Exploitation: poc
    • Automatable: yes
    • Technical Impact: partial

Additional References

handlebars.js: Handlebars.js: Denial of Service via malformed decorator syntax in template compilation

Additional References

References