fix(coderd/notifications): HTML-escape the email template values (#28397) by github-actions[bot] · Pull Request #28603 · coder/coder · GitHub
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fix(coderd/notifications): HTML-escape the email template values (#28397) - #28603

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fix(coderd/notifications): HTML-escape the email template values (#28397)#28603
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@github-actions github-actions Bot commented Aug 25, 2026

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Backport of #28397

Original PR: #28397 — fix(coderd/notifications): HTML-escape the email template values
Merge commit: 2236710
Requested by: @BobbyHo

The automatic cherry-pick originally conflicted because it ran before #28605 (the backport of #28340) had landed on release/2.37. #28397 amends a comment directly above the escaped := payload.EscapedForMarkdown() block that #28340 introduced, so with that block absent the hunk had no context to anchor to.

#28605 is now on release/2.37, and the cherry-pick applies cleanly. This branch has been re-created from release/2.37 with git cherry-pick -x -m1 2236710b, and the resulting diff is byte-identical to the original PR's diff.

@github-actions github-actions Bot added the backport/v2.37 Backport PR targeting release/2.37 label Aug 25, 2026
@github-actions
github-actions Bot requested a review from BobbyHo August 25, 2026 21:35
)

Follows #28340, now merged.

`smtp.go` renders the notification title through
`PlaintextFromMarkdown`, which strips Markdown **and decodes HTML
entities**, then stores the result in `Labels["_subject"]`.
`html.gotmpl` interpolated that raw into `<title>` and `<h1>`, so an
entity-encoded payload in a user-controlled label arrived as live
markup:

```
template_display_name = &lt;a href="https://attacker.example/login"&gt;Re-authenticate now&lt;/a&gt;

  -> <title>Template "<a href="https://attacker.example/login">Re-authenticate now</a>" deleted</title>
```

Markdown escaping cannot reach this. `&` is not backslash-escapable in
either renderer, and this path never enters gomarkdown, so neither
`html.SkipHTML` nor the `Safelink` added in #28340 sees the string. `{{
.UserName }}` was interpolated raw at the same template, straight from
the unescaped payload the dispatcher receives.

This PR adds `| html` to seven values across eleven positions in
`html.gotmpl`:

| Value | Positions | Why |
|---|---|---|
| `.Labels._subject` | 2 | the injection above, in `<title>` and `<h1>`
|
| `.UserName` | 1 | reaches the template straight from the unescaped
payload |
| `$action.URL` | 1 | rendered from user data at `enqueuer.go:201`;
`EscapedForMarkdown` does not touch `Actions` |
| `$action.Label` | 1 | static today, escaped so it stays safe if that
changes |
| `base_url` | 4 | `--access-url` is scheme-checked only, so a `"`
closes the `href` |
| `current_year` | 1 | cannot carry markup, escaped so the rule has no
exceptions |
| `.NotificationTemplateID` | 1 | same |

`logo_url` and `app_name` were already escaped in #28340. `{{
.Labels._body }}` stays unescaped: it is intentionally gomarkdown
output, and it is the only value in the file that is not escaped.

The action and `base_url` values are defense in depth rather than open
holes. A `"` in an action URL fails closed at enqueue, because the
rendered actions JSON is unmarshalled before use and the quote breaks
that parse; `<`, `>`, `&` and `'` survive but are inert inside a
double-quoted attribute. `base_url` requires an operator to set a
hostile `--access-url`.

Every value is guarded by a test. Removing `| html` from any of the nine
escaped values now fails a named test, verified by removing each pipe in
turn:

- `TestSMTPHTMLTemplateEscapesUntrustedValues` covers `_subject`,
`UserName` and both action values.
- `TestSMTPHTMLTemplateEscapesTrustedValues` covers `base_url`,
`current_year` and `.NotificationTemplateID`, none of which can carry
markup in production, so no golden file would catch their regression.
- `TestSMTPHTMLTemplateEscapesAppearanceHelpers` covers `logo_url` and
`app_name`.

That last point is why the trusted values needed tests rather than
goldens: escaping them costs zero golden churn, so nothing already in
the tree fails when it is removed. Before this PR the same was true of
`$action.Label`, whose escaping could be deleted with no golden diff and
no failing test at all.

The 36 golden files change by entity encoding only, mostly `"` to
`&#34;` and `'` to `&#39;` in subjects. Verified by quoted-printable
decoding every file before and after and confirming the two are
identical once HTML entities are decoded: 36/36 with no semantic
difference. Escaping `base_url`, `current_year` and
`.NotificationTemplateID` added no further churn.

**NOTE**: `$action.URL | html` turns the `&` in the one-time passcode
reset link into `&amp;`. That is the correct encoding of a literal `&`
in an attribute value, and every conformant client decodes it before
navigating, so the request the server receives is unchanged. It is the
only golden change with behavior attached.

Migrating this template to `html/template` was considered and declined;
the reasoning and the conditions that would reverse it are on the CRF-3
review thread.

Refs
https://linear.app/codercom/issue/PLAT-273/markdown-link-injection-into-admin-notification-emails-sec-93

(cherry picked from commit 2236710)
@BobbyHo
BobbyHo force-pushed the backport/28397-to-2.37 branch from 74c554a to a7082ad Compare August 26, 2026 15:37
@BobbyHo BobbyHo changed the title fix(coderd/notifications): HTML-escape the email template values (#28397) (conflicts) fix(coderd/notifications): HTML-escape the email template values (#28397) Aug 26, 2026
@mtojek
mtojek merged commit 29cae5f into release/2.37 Aug 26, 2026
16 of 21 checks passed
@mtojek
mtojek deleted the backport/28397-to-2.37 branch August 26, 2026 19:31
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