GHSA-jjm6-p2m9-9w4x Nuxt: Incomplete fix for GHSA-934w-87qh-qr26: a `javascript:` URL prefixed with an ASCII control character executes from `<NuxtLink>` when `pages` is disabled

• npm nuxt: < 4.6.0 → fixed in 4.6.0

Impact An application that renders `` with a value it does not control can be made to render an anchor whose `href` executes script in the application's origin when clicked. This is an incomplete fix for GHSA-934w-87qh-qr26 (CVE-2026-53722). It only affects applications running without a `pages/` directory, where `pages` resolves to `false` and Nuxt registers its own router in place of vue-router. Applications using vue-router are not affected. Prefixing `javascript:` with an ASCII C0 control character, for example `%01`, meant the value was not recognised as having a protocol. It was classified as an internal route and so never reached the protocol check added in GHSA-934w-87qh-qr26, and the router used for `pages: false` passed it through to the rendered `href` unchanged. Browsers strip the leading control character and run the result as a script URL. Both `` and the default anchor are affected, and the `href` is present in the server-rendered HTML. Mitigating factors • The application must have `pages` disabled (no `pages/` directory, or `pages: false`). • The application must bind untrusted input to `:to`. • A victim must click the rendered link. Affected versions `nuxt` `<4.6.0`, including all Nuxt 3 releases. Versions before `4.4.7` and `3.21.7` are also affected by GHSA-934w-87qh-qr26. Patches Fixed in `[email protected]`. Nuxt 3 reached end of life on 31 July 2026 and will not receive a fix. Anchor `href` values are now checked for script-capable protocols wherever they are rendered, including the router used when `pages` is disabled. Protocol detection also moved to the platform `URL` parser, so a URL is classified the same way the browser will read it. Workarounds Upgrade to `[email protected]` or later. If you cannot upgrade, including on Nuxt 3, validate values before binding them to `:to`, for example by rejecting anything that is not a path beginning with a single `/`.