All the vulnerabilities related to the version 1.2.4 of the package
Denial of service while parsing a tar file due to lack of folders count validation
During some analysis today on npm's node-tar package I came across the folder creation process, Basicly if you provide node-tar with a path like this ./a/b/c/foo.txt it would create every folder and sub-folder here a, b and c until it reaches the last folder to create foo.txt, In-this case I noticed that there's no validation at all on the amount of folders being created, that said we're actually able to CPU and memory consume the system running node-tar and even crash the nodejs client within few seconds of running it using a path with too many sub-folders inside
You can reproduce this issue by downloading the tar file I provided in the resources and using node-tar to extract it, you should get the same behavior as the video
Here's a video show-casing the exploit:
Denial of service by crashing the nodejs client when attempting to parse a tar archive, make it run out of heap memory and consuming server CPU and memory resources
This report was originally reported to GitHub bug bounty program, they asked me to report it to you a month ago
yargs-parser Vulnerable to Prototype Pollution
Affected versions of yargs-parser are vulnerable to prototype pollution. Arguments are not properly sanitized, allowing an attacker to modify the prototype of Object, causing the addition or modification of an existing property that will exist on all objects.
Parsing the argument --foo.__proto__.bar baz' adds a bar property with value baz to all objects. This is only exploitable if attackers have control over the arguments being passed to yargs-parser.
Upgrade to versions 13.1.2, 15.0.1, 18.1.1 or later.
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in trim-newlines
@rkesters/gnuplot is an easy to use node module to draw charts using gnuplot and ps2pdf. The trim-newlines package before 3.0.1 and 4.x before 4.0.1 for Node.js has an issue related to regular expression denial-of-service (ReDoS) for the .end() method.
Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in micromatch
The NPM package micromatch prior to version 4.0.8 is vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS). The vulnerability occurs in micromatch.braces() in index.js because the pattern .* will greedily match anything. By passing a malicious payload, the pattern matching will keep backtracking to the input while it doesn't find the closing bracket. As the input size increases, the consumption time will also increase until it causes the application to hang or slow down. There was a merged fix but further testing shows the issue persisted prior to https://github.com/micromatch/micromatch/pull/266. This issue should be mitigated by using a safe pattern that won't start backtracking the regular expression due to greedy matching.
Uncontrolled resource consumption in braces
The NPM package braces fails to limit the number of characters it can handle, which could lead to Memory Exhaustion. In lib/parse.js, if a malicious user sends "imbalanced braces" as input, the parsing will enter a loop, which will cause the program to start allocating heap memory without freeing it at any moment of the loop. Eventually, the JavaScript heap limit is reached, and the program will crash.
qs's arrayLimit bypass in its bracket notation allows DoS via memory exhaustion
The arrayLimit option in qs does not enforce limits for bracket notation (a[]=1&a[]=2), allowing attackers to cause denial-of-service via memory exhaustion. Applications using arrayLimit for DoS protection are vulnerable.
The arrayLimit option only checks limits for indexed notation (a[0]=1&a[1]=2) but completely bypasses it for bracket notation (a[]=1&a[]=2).
Vulnerable code (lib/parse.js:159-162):
if (root === '[]' && options.parseArrays) {
obj = utils.combine([], leaf); // No arrayLimit check
}
Working code (lib/parse.js:175):
else if (index <= options.arrayLimit) { // Limit checked here
obj = [];
obj[index] = leaf;
}
The bracket notation handler at line 159 uses utils.combine([], leaf) without validating against options.arrayLimit, while indexed notation at line 175 checks index <= options.arrayLimit before creating arrays.
Test 1 - Basic bypass:
npm install qs
const qs = require('qs');
const result = qs.parse('a[]=1&a[]=2&a[]=3&a[]=4&a[]=5&a[]=6', { arrayLimit: 5 });
console.log(result.a.length); // Output: 6 (should be max 5)
Test 2 - DoS demonstration:
const qs = require('qs');
const attack = 'a[]=' + Array(10000).fill('x').join('&a[]=');
const result = qs.parse(attack, { arrayLimit: 100 });
console.log(result.a.length); // Output: 10000 (should be max 100)
Configuration:
arrayLimit: 5 (test 1) or arrayLimit: 100 (test 2)a[]=value (not indexed a[0]=value)Denial of Service via memory exhaustion. Affects applications using qs.parse() with user-controlled input and arrayLimit for protection.
Attack scenario:
GET /api/search?filters[]=x&filters[]=x&...&filters[]=x (100,000+ times)qs.parse(query, { arrayLimit: 100 })Real-world impact:
Add arrayLimit validation to the bracket notation handler. The code already calculates currentArrayLength at line 147-151, but it's not used in the bracket notation handler at line 159.
Current code (lib/parse.js:159-162):
if (root === '[]' && options.parseArrays) {
obj = options.allowEmptyArrays && (leaf === '' || (options.strictNullHandling && leaf === null))
? []
: utils.combine([], leaf); // No arrayLimit check
}
Fixed code:
if (root === '[]' && options.parseArrays) {
// Use currentArrayLength already calculated at line 147-151
if (options.throwOnLimitExceeded && currentArrayLength >= options.arrayLimit) {
throw new RangeError('Array limit exceeded. Only ' + options.arrayLimit + ' element' + (options.arrayLimit === 1 ? '' : 's') + ' allowed in an array.');
}
// If limit exceeded and not throwing, convert to object (consistent with indexed notation behavior)
if (currentArrayLength >= options.arrayLimit) {
obj = options.plainObjects ? { __proto__: null } : {};
obj[currentArrayLength] = leaf;
} else {
obj = options.allowEmptyArrays && (leaf === '' || (options.strictNullHandling && leaf === null))
? []
: utils.combine([], leaf);
}
}
This makes bracket notation behaviour consistent with indexed notation, enforcing arrayLimit and converting to object when limit is exceeded (per README documentation).
Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature in node-forge
RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification code is not properly checking DigestInfo for a proper ASN.1 structure. This can lead to successful verification with signatures that contain invalid structures but a valid digest.
The issue has been addressed in node-forge 1.3.0.
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
node-forge has ASN.1 Unbounded Recursion
An Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) vulnerability in node-forge versions 1.3.1 and below enables remote, unauthenticated attackers to craft deep ASN.1 structures that trigger unbounded recursive parsing. This leads to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) via stack exhaustion when parsing untrusted DER inputs.
An ASN.1 Denial of Service (Dos) vulnerability exists in the node-forge asn1.fromDer function within forge/lib/asn1.js. The ASN.1 DER parser implementation (_fromDer) recurses for every constructed ASN.1 value (SEQUENCE, SET, etc.) and lacks a guard limiting recursion depth. An attacker can craft a small DER blob containing a very large nesting depth of constructed TLVs which causes the Node.js V8 engine to exhaust its call stack and throw RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded, crashing or incapacitating the process handling the parse. This is a remote, low-cost Denial-of-Service against applications that parse untrusted ASN.1 objects.
This vulnerability enables an unauthenticated attacker to reliably crash a server or client using node-forge for TLS connections or certificate parsing.
This vulnerability impacts the ans1.fromDer function in node-forge before patched version 1.3.2.
Any downstream application using this component is impacted. These components may be leveraged by downstream applications in ways that enable full compromise of availability.
node-forge has an Interpretation Conflict vulnerability via its ASN.1 Validator Desynchronization
CVE-2025-12816 has been reserved by CERT/CC
Description An Interpretation Conflict (CWE-436) vulnerability in node-forge versions 1.3.1 and below enables remote, unauthenticated attackers to craft ASN.1 structures to desynchronize schema validations, yielding a semantic divergence that may bypass downstream cryptographic verifications and security decisions.
A critical ASN.1 validation bypass vulnerability exists in the node-forge asn1.validate function within forge/lib/asn1.js. ASN.1 is a schema language that defines data structures, like the typed record schemas used in X.509, PKCS#7, PKCS#12, etc. DER (Distinguished Encoding Rules), a strict binary encoding of ASN.1, is what cryptographic code expects when verifying signatures, and the exact bytes and structure must match the schema used to compute and verify the signature. After deserializing DER, Forge uses static ASN.1 validation schemas to locate the signed data or public key, compute digests over the exact bytes required, and feed digest and signature fields into cryptographic primitives.
This vulnerability allows a specially crafted ASN.1 object to desynchronize the validator on optional boundaries, causing a malformed optional field to be semantically reinterpreted as the subsequent mandatory structure. This manifests as logic bypasses in cryptographic algorithms and protocols with optional security features (such as PKCS#12, where MACs are treated as absent) and semantic interpretation conflicts in strict protocols (such as X.509, where fields are read as the wrong type).
This flaw allows an attacker to desynchronize the validator, allowing critical components like digital signatures or integrity checks to be skipped or validated against attacker-controlled data.
This vulnerability impacts the ans1.validate function in node-forge before patched version 1.3.2.
https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/blob/main/lib/asn1.js.
The following components in node-forge are impacted.
lib/asn1.js
lib/x509.js
lib/pkcs12.js
lib/pkcs7.js
lib/rsa.js
lib/pbe.js
lib/ed25519.js
Any downstream application using these components is impacted.
These components may be leveraged by downstream applications in ways that enable full compromise of integrity, leading to potential availability and confidentiality compromises.
Prototype Pollution in node-forge debug API.
The forge.debug API had a potential prototype pollution issue if called with untrusted input. The API was only used for internal debug purposes in a safe way and never documented or advertised. It is suspected that uses of this API, if any exist, would likely not have used untrusted inputs in a vulnerable way.
The forge.debug API and related functions were removed in 1.0.0.
Don't use the forge.debug API directly or indirectly with untrusted input.
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
node-forge is vulnerable to ASN.1 OID Integer Truncation
MITRE-Formatted CVE Description An Integer Overflow (CWE-190) vulnerability in node-forge versions 1.3.1 and below enables remote, unauthenticated attackers to craft ASN.1 structures containing OIDs with oversized arcs. These arcs may be decoded as smaller, trusted OIDs due to 32-bit bitwise truncation, enabling the bypass of downstream OID-based security decisions.
An ASN.1 OID Integer Truncation vulnerability exists in the node-forge asn1.derToOid function within forge/lib/asn1.js. OID components are decoded using JavaScript's bitwise left-shift operator (<<), which forcibly casts values to 32-bit signed integers. Consequently, if an attacker provides a mathematically unique, very large OID arc integer exceeding $2^{31}-1$, the value silently overflows and wraps around rather than throwing an error.
This vulnerability allows a specially crafted ASN.1 object to spoof an OID, where a malicious certificate with a massive, invalid OID is misinterpreted by the library as a trusted, standard OID, potentially bypassing security controls.
This vulnerability impacts the asn1.derToOid function in node-forge before patched version 1.3.2.
Any downstream application using this component is impacted. This component may be leveraged by downstream applications in ways that enables partial compromise of integrity, leading to potential availability and confidentiality compromises.
Open Redirect in node-forge
parseUrl functionality in node-forge mishandles certain uses of backslash such as https:/\/\/\ and interprets the URI as a relative path.
Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature in node-forge
RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification code is lenient in checking the digest algorithm structure. This can allow a crafted structure that steals padding bytes and uses unchecked portion of the PKCS#1 encoded message to forge a signature when a low public exponent is being used.
The issue has been addressed in node-forge 1.3.0.
For more information, please see "Bleichenbacher's RSA signature forgery based on implementation error" by Hal Finney.
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
URL parsing in node-forge could lead to undesired behavior.
The regex used for the forge.util.parseUrl API would not properly parse certain inputs resulting in a parsed data structure that could lead to undesired behavior.
forge.util.parseUrl and other very old related URL APIs were removed in 1.0.0 in favor of letting applications use the more modern WHATWG URL Standard API.
Ensure code does not directly or indirectly call forge.util.parseUrl with untrusted input.
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature in node-forge
RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification code does not check for tailing garbage bytes after decoding a DigestInfo ASN.1 structure. This can allow padding bytes to be removed and garbage data added to forge a signature when a low public exponent is being used.
The issue has been addressed in node-forge 1.3.0.
For more information, please see "Bleichenbacher's RSA signature forgery based on implementation error" by Hal Finney.
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in json-bigint
Prototype pollution in json-bigint npm package < 1.0.0 may lead to a denial-of-service (DoS) attack.
Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in cross-spawn
Versions of the package cross-spawn before 7.0.5 are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) due to improper input sanitization. An attacker can increase the CPU usage and crash the program by crafting a very large and well crafted string.
Got allows a redirect to a UNIX socket
The got package before 11.8.5 and 12.1.0 for Node.js allows a redirect to a UNIX socket.