CVE-2020-26308 — validate.js
HIGHCVE-2020-26308 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-1333 vulnerability in validate.js. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime.
validate.js Regular Expression Denial of Service vulnerability
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2020-26308.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
validate.jsnpmDescription
Validate.js provides a declarative way of validating javascript objects. Versions 0.13.1 and prior contain one or more regular expressions that are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS). As of time of publication, no known patches are available.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | validate.js | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
validate.jsvalidatejsDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for validate.js, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
The records we use list no patched version of validate.js for CVE-2020-26308. Check the maintainer's advisory, and where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range.
Mitigate without a patch
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-26308 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.