CVE-2026-27904

minimatch ReDoS: nested *() extglobs generate catastrophically backtracking regular expressions

State
Published
Severity
7.5 High
Published
Feb 26, 2026
Updated
Feb 26, 2026
Reserved
Feb 24, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

minimatch is a minimal matching utility for converting glob expressions into JavaScript RegExp objects. Prior to version 10.2.3, 9.0.7, 8.0.6, 7.4.8, 6.2.2, 5.1.8, 4.2.5, and 3.1.4, nested `*()` extglobs produce regexps with nested unbounded quantifiers (e.g. `(?:(?:a|b)*)*`), which exhibit catastrophic backtracking in V8. With a 12-byte pattern `*(*(*(a|b)))` and an 18-byte non-matching input, `minimatch()` stalls for over 7 seconds. Adding a single nesting level or a few input characters pushes this to minutes. This is the most severe finding: it is triggered by the default `minimatch()` API with no special options, and the minimum viable pattern is only 12 bytes. The same issue affects `+()` extglobs equally. Versions 10.2.3, 9.0.7, 8.0.6, 7.4.8, 6.2.2, 5.1.8, 4.2.5, and 3.1.4 fix the issue.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.17.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HGitHub_M

Weaknesses

  • CWE-1333 Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity

Affected Products

ProductVersions
minimatchisaacs
  • >= 10.0.0, < 10.2.3Affected
  • >= 9.0.0, < 9.0.7Affected
  • >= 8.0.0, < 8.0.6Affected
  • >= 7.0.0, < 7.4.8Affected
  • >= 6.0.0, < 6.2.2Affected
  • >= 5.0.0, < 5.1.8Affected
  • >= 4.0.0, < 4.2.5Affected
  • < 3.1.4Affected

References

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