CVE-2026-102278

brace-expansion: DoS via uncontrolled recursion on nested brace groups causing stack exhaustion

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: September 28, 2026 at 08:57 PM UTC
Updated: October 1, 2026 at 03:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorBrace Expansion

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.5%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

The brace-expansion library generates arbitrary strings containing a common prefix and suffix. Prior to 1.1.20, 2.1.6, 3.0.8, and 5.0.11, deeply nested brace groups cause expand_() to recurse once per nesting level at comma-member and single-set expansion sites, exhausting the native stack before output limits can apply and potentially terminating the Node.js process. expand_ performs uncontrolled recursion for nested brace alternatives and single-part sets. deeply nested brace groups supplied as an untrusted pattern. expand_ is affected. expand is affected. Comma members is affected. Single set is affected. native stack exhaustion during nested sub-expansion. process-terminating denial of service. This issue is fixed in versions 1.1.20, 2.1.6, 3.0.8, and 5.0.11.

Affected

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

v < 1.1.20v < 2.1.6v < 3.0.8v < 5.0.11
Affected range stops below 1.1.20, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2.1.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3.0.8, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 5.0.11, 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

7.5HIGHGitHub_M
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusDEFERRED
CWE
CWE-400CWE-674

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