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Microsoft Kiota: XML Doc-Comment Newline Breakout Code Injection

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jun 25, 2026 in microsoft/kiota • Updated Aug 17, 2026

Package

nuget Microsoft.OpenApi.Kiota (NuGet)

Affected versions

>= 1.30.0, < 1.32.3
< 1.29.1

Patched versions

1.32.3
1.29.1
nuget Microsoft.OpenApi.Kiota.Builder (NuGet)
>= 1.30.0, < 1.32.3
< 1.29.1
1.32.3
1.29.1

Description

Summary

Kiota versions prior to 1.32.3 and 1.29.1 are affected by a code-generation injection vulnerability in the C# XML documentation-comment sink (the description, externalDocs label, and externalDocs link fields emitted as /// … comments).

When text from an OpenAPI description is written into single-line XML doc comments without stripping newline and Unicode line-terminator characters, an attacker can break out of the /// comment line and inject additional code into generated C# clients.

Impact and Preconditions

This issue is only practically exploitable when:

  1. the OpenAPI description used for generation is from an untrusted source, or
  2. a normally trusted OpenAPI description has been compromised/tampered with.

The injected code is compiled (and may execute) when the developer or CI builds the generated client. If you only generate from trusted, integrity-protected API descriptions, risk is significantly reduced.

Affected Versions

  • Affected: all versions < 1.29.1, >= 1.30.0, < 1.32.3
  • Fixed: 1.29.1, 1.32.3, and later

Illustrative Exploit Example

Example OpenAPI fragment (malicious description)

openapi: 3.0.1
info:
  title: Exploit Demo
  version: 1.0.0
  description: |-
    Legitimate summary text
    public static class Pwned { static Pwned() { System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("calc.exe"); } }

The newline inside description (also exploitable via \r, U+0085, U+2028, U+2029) terminates the doc-comment line.

Example generated C# snippet before fix (illustrative)

/// Legitimate summary text
public static class Pwned { static Pwned() { System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("calc.exe"); } }

The injected payload escapes the intended /// comment context and introduces attacker-controlled statements in generated code.

Note: this exploit is not limited to the description field, but may also impact the externalDocs label and link text and other doc-comment-derived locations.

Remediation

  1. Upgrade Kiota to 1.32.3 or later.
  2. Regenerate/refresh existing generated clients as a precaution:

Refreshing generated clients ensures previously generated vulnerable code is replaced with hardened output. The fix (PR microsoft/kiota#7831) strips \r, \n, \u0085, \u2028, \u2029 (and normalizes tabs) from description, label, and link text before emitting doc comments.

References

@peombwa peombwa published to microsoft/kiota Jun 25, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jul 16, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jul 24, 2026
Reviewed Jul 24, 2026
Last updated Aug 17, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements None
Privileges Required None
User interaction Passive
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality High
Integrity High
Availability High
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(70th percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

The product constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the syntax or behavior of the intended code segment. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-59860

GHSA ID

GHSA-3hrf-2gc2-mx32

Source code

Credits

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