brace-expansion: Zero-step sequence causes process hang and memory exhaustion

CISA KEV is observed exploitation evidence. FIRST EPSS is a dated prediction of exploitation in the next 30 days. Missing scores are unknown. This collector requests predictions only for explicit CVE aliases in the public NuGet archive; Microsoft release views retain their existing prediction scope.

No collected risk observation for these identifiers. This does not establish absence of exploitation or a zero probability.

The brace-expansion library generates arbitrary strings containing a common prefix and suffix. Prior to versions 5.0.5, 3.0.2, 2.0.3, and 1.1.13, a brace pattern with a zero step value (e.g., `{1..2..0}`) causes the sequence generation loop to run indefinitely, making the process hang for seconds and allocate heaps of memory. Versions 5.0.5, 3.0.2, 2.0.3, and 1.1.13 fix the issue. As a workaround, sanitize strings passed to `expand()` to ensure a step value of `0` is not used.

Source published

27 Mar 2026 14:04:52 UTC

Source modified

27 Mar 2026 14:48:06 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

CVE Program Terms of Use

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CVSS 3.1 · 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

The brace-expansion library generates arbitrary strings containing a common prefix and suffix. Prior to versions 5.0.5, 3.0.2, 2.0.3, and 1.1.13, a brace pattern with a zero step value (e.g., `{1..2..0}`) causes the sequence generation loop to run indefinitely, making the process hang for seconds and allocate heaps of memory. Versions 5.0.5, 3.0.2, 2.0.3, and 1.1.13 fix the issue. As a workaround, sanitize strings passed to `expand()` to ensure a step value of `0` is not used.

Source published

Mar 27, 2026, 2:04:52 PM (timezone not stated)

Source modified

Mar 27, 2026, 2:48:06 PM (timezone not stated)

Observed here

1 Nov 2026 05:15:50 UTC

Source terms

ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: euvd · ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

EUVD CVSS 3.1 · 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

The brace-expansion library generates arbitrary strings containing a common prefix and suffix. Prior to versions 5.0.5, 3.0.2, 2.0.3, and 1.1.13, a brace pattern with a zero step value (e.g., `{1..2..0}`) causes the sequence generation loop to run indefinitely, making the process hang for seconds and allocate heaps of memory. Versions 5.0.5, 3.0.2, 2.0.3, and 1.1.13 fix the issue. As a workaround, sanitize strings passed to `expand()` to ensure a step value of `0` is not used.

Source published

27 Mar 2026 15:16:57 UTC

Source modified

26 Oct 2026 22:10:00 UTC

Observed here

27 Oct 2026 09:02:55 UTC

Source terms

NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: nvd · NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 3.1 · [email protected] · Secondary · 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS 3.1 · [email protected] · Primary · 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

### Impact A brace pattern with a zero step value (e.g., `{1..2..0}`) causes the sequence generation loop to run indefinitely, making the process hang for seconds and allocate heaps of memory. The loop in question: https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/blob/daa71bcb4a30a2df9bcb7f7b8daaf2ab30e5794a/src/index.ts#L184 `test()` is one of https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/blob/daa71bcb4a30a2df9bcb7f7b8daaf2ab30e5794a/src/index.ts#L107-L113 The increment is computed as `Math.abs(0) = 0`, so the loop variable never advances. On a test machine, the process hangs for about 3.5 seconds and allocates roughly 1.9 GB of memory before throwing a `RangeError`. Setting max to any value has no effect because the limit is only checked at the output combination step, not during sequence generation. This affects any application that passes untrusted strings to expand(), or by error sets a step value of `0`. That includes tools built on minimatch/glob that resolve patterns from CLI arguments or config files. The input needed is just 10 bytes. ### Patches Upgrade to versions - 5.0.5+ A step increment of 0 is now sanitized to 1, which matches bash behavior. ### Workarounds Sanitize strings passed to `expand()` to ensure a step value of `0` is not used.

Source published

26 Mar 2026 18:29:42 UTC

Source modified

10 Sep 2026 03:51:00 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:17:17 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

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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:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Publisher rating · MODERATE