{"id":"CVE-2026-102277","aliases":["GHSA-q2hr-2g5m-vwhr"],"url":"https://o3.security/vulnerability/CVE-2026-102277","summary":"brace-expansion: Quadratic-time expansion of the `{a},b}` rewrite causes CPU denial of service","details":"### Summary\n\nExpanding `{a},b}`-shaped input takes time quadratic in the number of literal `}` characters, blocking the event loop.\n\nBash preserves a quirk where a brace group followed by a comma set still expands (`{a},b}`). The parser implements this by rewriting the string and restarting the scan. Each pass absorbs exactly one `}` and re-scans from the beginning, so `n` trailing braces cost `n` full passes.\n\n### Reproduction\n\n```js\nconst build = n => '{a}' + '}'.repeat(n) + ',z}'\n\nfor (const n of [8000, 16000, 32000, 64000, 128000]) {\n  const t = Date.now()\n  expand(build(n))\n  console.log(n, Date.now() - t + 'ms')\n}\n```\n\n| n | input | time | results |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| 8,000 | 8 KB | 110 ms | 2 |\n| 16,000 | 16 KB | 446 ms | 2 |\n| 32,000 | 32 KB | 1.7 s | 2 |\n| 64,000 | 64 KB | 6.9 s | 2 |\n| 128,000 | 128 KB | **27.7 s** | 2 |\n\n`ms/n^2` is flat at ~1.7 and each doubling of `n` costs exactly 4.0x - quadratic. 128 KB of input blocks the event loop for nearly half a minute to produce two results.\n\n### Mechanism\n\nInstrumenting the rewrite branch confirms it runs exactly `n + 1` times, once per literal `}`, each re-scanning the whole string.\n\nThere is a second multiplier. The rewrite replaces the group's closing `}` with the internal `escClose` sentinel, which is `'\\0CLOSE' + Math.random() + '\\0'` - about 25 characters. The working string therefore *grows* by ~25 characters on every pass:\n\n| n | input length | final string length |\n|---|---|---|\n| 1,000 | 1,006 | 26,006 |\n| 8,000 | 8,006 | 208,006 |\n\nSo the input is inflated roughly 26x, and that factor multiplies both the quadratic constant and peak memory. This makes it partly a memory-pressure issue as well as a CPU one.\n\n### Why `max` and `maxLength` do not help\n\nThe cost is in parsing, before the result set exists. The payload yields 2 results regardless of size, so neither bound is ever reached.\n\n### Impact\n\nAn application passing an untrusted pattern to `expand()`, directly or through `minimatch` / `glob`, can have its event loop blocked for tens of seconds by a payload well under minimatch's 65,536-character cap. For a single-threaded Node server that is a full stall, not just a slow request.\n\nDegraded availability rather than a crash - the process recovers once the expansion completes.\n\n### Affected versions\n\nVerified affected on 1.1.18, 2.1.4, 3.0.6 and 5.0.9, all within a few percent of each other (~460-490 ms at n=16,000).\n\n### Patch\n\nThe rewrite loop gets an iteration bound. Past the cap the remaining string is treated as non-expanding and returned literally, consistent with the existing `max` / `maxLength` caps, which truncate rather than throw.\n\nNote this bounds the number of passes, not the cost of each: worst-case work remains proportional to `cap x input length`. The cap is set low enough that the residual is bounded in practice, and far above what any realistic `{a},b}` input needs.\n\n### Severity note\n\nScored 5.3 Medium (`A:L`) for consistency with GHSA-3jxr-9vmj-r5cp, the other algorithmic-complexity advisory on this package (CWE-407), which uses the same vector. The stack-exhaustion advisories on this package score `A:H` because they crash the process outright; this one stalls it.","published":"2026-09-28T20:54:46.160Z","modified":"2026-10-21T02:54:27.743834891Z","cvss":{"score":5.3,"severity":"MEDIUM","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L"},"epss":null,"cisaKev":null,"exploitsKnown":null,"affectedPackages":[{"ecosystem":"npm","name":"brace-expansion","fixedVersion":"5.0.12"},{"ecosystem":"npm","name":"brace-expansion","fixedVersion":"3.0.9"},{"ecosystem":"npm","name":"brace-expansion","fixedVersion":"2.1.7"},{"ecosystem":"npm","name":"brace-expansion","fixedVersion":"1.1.21"}],"fix":{"url":"https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/commit/33a5ef17b8d800bbfa8c52b14c39043b6aac1a96","label":"juliangruber/brace-expansion@33a5ef1"},"references":[{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/102xxx/CVE-2026-102277.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/security/advisories/GHSA-q2hr-2g5m-vwhr"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-102277"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/commit/33a5ef17b8d800bbfa8c52b14c39043b6aac1a96"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/commit/bdff773f98e5988616b7039cc9b508df5d640b22"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/commit/c55e67d8d8b1c56a2474afff15c2891166b2d364"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/commit/ffdfa3e3806bed17c0874b8f1439b084de354a7e"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion"}],"provenance":{"sources":["OSV.dev","FIRST.org (EPSS)"],"lastVerified":"2026-10-21T02:54:27.743834891Z"}}