CVE-2026-102277

brace-expansion: Quadratic-time expansion of the `{a},b}` rewrite causes CPU denial of service

MEDIUM
5.3
CVSS Score
Published: September 28, 2026 at 08:54 PM UTC
Updated: September 30, 2026 at 07:57 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorBrace Expansion

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Severity
MEDIUM5.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.4%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

The brace-expansion library generates arbitrary strings containing a common prefix and suffix. Prior to 1.1.21, 2.1.7, 3.0.9, and 5.0.12, the expand function handles untrusted {a},b}-shaped patterns with many trailing closing braces by restarting its scan once for each trailing closing brace. The successive full-input rescans with linear working-string growth cause quadratic CPU time and memory pressure that can block the Node.js event loop. The process eventually recovers, making the impact a recoverable CPU denial of service. This issue is fixed in versions 1.1.21, 2.1.7, 3.0.9, and 5.0.12.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 1.1.21v < 2.1.7v < 3.0.9v < 5.0.12
Affected range stops below 1.1.21, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2.1.7, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3.0.9, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 5.0.12, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

5.3MEDIUMGitHub_M
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
LOW
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusDEFERRED
CWE
CWE-400CWE-407

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