vulnerability / NVI-00013238 / Revision 1
brace-expansion: DoS via uncontrolled recursion on nested brace groups causing stack exhaustion
GitHub lists this reviewed advisory for brace-expansion, brace-expansion, brace-expansion, brace-expansion. Published version ranges and source prerequisites are shown below; this is not an inspection of a visitor’s application.
This report has not inspected your inventory, configuration, deployed build, reachability or evidence. A catalog listing and a severity score do not establish exposure or compromise.
01 / Meaning
Why it matters
Published affected context helps an owner decide what evidence to gather. This report has not examined your application.
7.5 high
GitHub source severity; exploitability and local consequence require separate evidence.
As of · GitHub Advisory Database
02 / Applicability
The affected context
Affected versions, configuration prerequisites and known exclusions are public. Confirm each one against the deployed service.
brace-expansion
source listed>= 4.0.0, < 5.0.11
### Summary `expand_()` recurses once per level of brace *nesting*. Deeply nested input exhausts the native stack and crashes the process. This is distinct from CVE-2026-14257 / GHSA-mh99-v99m-4gvg, which made the *tail* iterative (recursion on `m.post`, driven by how many groups are chained). Nesting depth drives a different recursion that the tail fix never touched, so the documented constant-stack-depth guarantee only ever covered chained input, not nested input. It is also distinct from GHSA-6j4f-fj2g-mc7p, which fixed recursion in `parseCommaParts()`. Both payloads below still crash with that fix applied. ### Two recursion sites **Comma members.** Each alternative of a brace set is expanded by a recursive call, so nesting a set inside every alternative recurses once per level: ```js expand('{a,'.repeat(4000) + 'z' + '}'.repeat(4000)) // RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded ``` Crashes at depth 3,907 - about **15.6 KB** of input. **Single set.** A brace set whose body parses to a single part is expanded by a recursive call before being re-wrapped (`x{{a,b}}y` -> `x{a}y x{b}y`), which recurses once per nesting level: ```js expand('{'.repeat(3200) + 'a,b' + '}'.r
brace-expansion
source listed>= 3.0.0, < 3.0.8
### Summary `expand_()` recurses once per level of brace *nesting*. Deeply nested input exhausts the native stack and crashes the process. This is distinct from CVE-2026-14257 / GHSA-mh99-v99m-4gvg, which made the *tail* iterative (recursion on `m.post`, driven by how many groups are chained). Nesting depth drives a different recursion that the tail fix never touched, so the documented constant-stack-depth guarantee only ever covered chained input, not nested input. It is also distinct from GHSA-6j4f-fj2g-mc7p, which fixed recursion in `parseCommaParts()`. Both payloads below still crash with that fix applied. ### Two recursion sites **Comma members.** Each alternative of a brace set is expanded by a recursive call, so nesting a set inside every alternative recurses once per level: ```js expand('{a,'.repeat(4000) + 'z' + '}'.repeat(4000)) // RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded ``` Crashes at depth 3,907 - about **15.6 KB** of input. **Single set.** A brace set whose body parses to a single part is expanded by a recursive call before being re-wrapped (`x{{a,b}}y` -> `x{a}y x{b}y`), which recurses once per nesting level: ```js expand('{'.repeat(3200) + 'a,b' + '}'.r
brace-expansion
source listed>= 2.0.0, < 2.1.6
### Summary `expand_()` recurses once per level of brace *nesting*. Deeply nested input exhausts the native stack and crashes the process. This is distinct from CVE-2026-14257 / GHSA-mh99-v99m-4gvg, which made the *tail* iterative (recursion on `m.post`, driven by how many groups are chained). Nesting depth drives a different recursion that the tail fix never touched, so the documented constant-stack-depth guarantee only ever covered chained input, not nested input. It is also distinct from GHSA-6j4f-fj2g-mc7p, which fixed recursion in `parseCommaParts()`. Both payloads below still crash with that fix applied. ### Two recursion sites **Comma members.** Each alternative of a brace set is expanded by a recursive call, so nesting a set inside every alternative recurses once per level: ```js expand('{a,'.repeat(4000) + 'z' + '}'.repeat(4000)) // RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded ``` Crashes at depth 3,907 - about **15.6 KB** of input. **Single set.** A brace set whose body parses to a single part is expanded by a recursive call before being re-wrapped (`x{{a,b}}y` -> `x{a}y x{b}y`), which recurses once per nesting level: ```js expand('{'.repeat(3200) + 'a,b' + '}'.r
brace-expansion
source listed< 1.1.20
### Summary `expand_()` recurses once per level of brace *nesting*. Deeply nested input exhausts the native stack and crashes the process. This is distinct from CVE-2026-14257 / GHSA-mh99-v99m-4gvg, which made the *tail* iterative (recursion on `m.post`, driven by how many groups are chained). Nesting depth drives a different recursion that the tail fix never touched, so the documented constant-stack-depth guarantee only ever covered chained input, not nested input. It is also distinct from GHSA-6j4f-fj2g-mc7p, which fixed recursion in `parseCommaParts()`. Both payloads below still crash with that fix applied. ### Two recursion sites **Comma members.** Each alternative of a brace set is expanded by a recursive call, so nesting a set inside every alternative recurses once per level: ```js expand('{a,'.repeat(4000) + 'z' + '}'.repeat(4000)) // RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded ``` Crashes at depth 3,907 - about **15.6 KB** of input. **Single set.** A brace set whose body parses to a single part is expanded by a recursive call before being re-wrapped (`x{{a,b}}y` -> `x{a}y x{b}y`), which recurses once per nesting level: ```js expand('{'.repeat(3200) + 'a,b' + '}'.r
03 / Response
What to do next
- investigate
Identify the exact component and deployed version, examine the linked publisher’s conditions, and retain evidence of any mitigation.
Confirm current vendor support, compatibility and deployment evidence. This report has not tested a fix in your system. GitHub Advisory Database
A fixed release is not deployment evidence.
Check current vendor support and compatibility. After making a change, verify the deployed build and relevant runtime conditions. Keep the evidence, owner and time. An updated lockfile alone does not prove what is running.
04 / Limits
What this report cannot establish
- Customer inventory, deployment, reachability and exploitation have not been inspected.
05 / Provenance
Sources you can inspect
Each assertion retains its source. Mirrored records may repeat one underlying publisher; additional links are not independent corroboration.
- GHSA-qhr7-859c-m2p7 ↗
GitHub Advisory Database · vendor advisory
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Public revision history
Only published revisions appear here. Routine fetches do not create a material-change event.
- Revision 1 ·
First indexed by Null; source disclosure date is shown separately.