CVE-2025-25290
MEDIUM@octokit/request has a Regular Expression in fetchWrapper that Leads to ReDoS Vulnerability Due to Catastrophic Backtracking
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Blast Radius
@octokit/request📦@octokit/requestReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
@octokit/request sends parameterized requests to GitHub’s APIs with sensible defaults in browsers and Node. Starting in version 1.0.0 and prior to versions 9.2.1 and 8.4.1, the regular expression /<([^>]+)>; rel="deprecation"/ used to match the link header in HTTP responses is vulnerable to a ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service) attack. This vulnerability arises due to the unbounded nature of the regex's matching behavior, which can lead to catastrophic backtracking when processing specially crafted input. An attacker could exploit this flaw by sending a malicious link header, resulting in excessive CPU usage and potentially causing the server to become unresponsive, impacting service availability. Versions 9.2.1 and 8.4.1 fix the issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @octokit/request | ≥ 9.0.0-beta.1&&< 9.2.1 | 9.2.1 |
| 📦npm | @octokit/request | ≥ 1.0.0&&< 8.4.1 | 8.4.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @octokit/request. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update @octokit/request to 9.2.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-25290 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2025-25290 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2025-25290. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-25290 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2025-25290 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.