CVE-2026-73643

js-yaml: Exponential parsing time in the flow collections leads to denial of service

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: August 13, 2026 at 05:47 PM UTC
Updated: October 24, 2026 at 03:10 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorJs Yaml

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.5%
SSVC
PoC

Description

js-yaml is a JavaScript YAML parser and dumper. From 5.0.0 until 5.2.2, parsing a small YAML document can take exponential time when an application calls load() or loadAll() on untrusted input. In src/parser/parser.ts, readFlowCollection uses restoreState and calls parseNode a second time when a flow-sequence entry is recognized as a key: value pair. If the key is a nested flow sequence of the same shape, every level is parsed twice, causing O(2^n) work and allowing an input under 200 bytes to keep one CPU busy for minutes, block the Node.js event loop, and stall the process. No anchors, aliases, merges, tags, or nondefault options are required. This issue is fixed in version 5.2.2.

Affected

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

>= 5.0.0, < 5.2.2
Affected range stops below 5.2.2, 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

SSVCPoCAutomatablePartial 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-407

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