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iCalendar has ICS injection via unsanitized URI property values

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Mar 21, 2026 in icalendar/icalendar • Updated Mar 27, 2026

Package

bundler icalendar (RubyGems)

Affected versions

>= 2.0.0, < 2.12.2

Patched versions

2.12.2

Description

Summary

.ics serialization does not properly sanitize URI property values, enabling ICS injection through attacker-controlled input, adding arbitrary calendar lines to the output.

Details

Icalendar::Values::Uri falls back to the raw input string when URI.parse fails and later serializes it with value.to_s without removing or escaping \r or \n characters. That value is embedded directly into the final ICS line by the normal serializer, so a payload containing CRLF can terminate the original property and create a new ICS property or component. (It looks like you can inject via url, source, image, organizer, attach, attendee, conference, tzurl because of this)

Relevant code:

  • lib/icalendar/values/uri.rb:16

PoC

Run the following with the library loaded:

require "icalendar/value"
require "icalendar/values/uri"

v = Icalendar::Values::Uri.new("https://a.example/ok\r\nATTENDEE:mailto:evil@example.com")
puts v.to_ical(Icalendar::Values::Text)

output:

;VALUE=URI:https://a.example/ok
ATTENDEE:mailto:evil@example.com

Impact

Applications that generate .ics files from partially untrusted metadata are impacted. As a result, downstream calendar clients or importers may process attacker-supplied content as if it were legitimate event data, such as added attendees, modified URLs, alarms, or other calendar fields.

Fix

Reject raw CR and LF characters in URI-typed values before serialization, or escape/encode them so they cannot terminate the current ICS content line.

References

@rahearn rahearn published to icalendar/icalendar Mar 21, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Mar 24, 2026
Reviewed Mar 24, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Mar 26, 2026
Last updated Mar 27, 2026

Severity

Moderate

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 v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A: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.
(16th percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of CRLF Sequences ('CRLF Injection')

The product uses CRLF (carriage return line feeds) as a special element, e.g. to separate lines or records, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes CRLF sequences from inputs. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-33635

GHSA ID

GHSA-pv9c-9mfh-hvxq

Source code

Credits

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