CVE-2020-36649Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Service interruption via overlapping numeric-regex alternatives

Published Jan 11, 2023 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Regular expression denial of service in Papa Parse before 5.2.0 allows attackers to stall parsing with crafted nonnumeric CSV input. The FLOAT expression used when dynamicTyping is enabled contains overlapping digit-matching alternatives that backtrack exponentially on a long numeric prefix followed by a nonnumeric character. Exposure requires untrusted CSV data to reach Papa.parse with dynamicTyping enabled; the resulting CPU consumption can interrupt the consuming application rather than alter or disclose data.

CVSS severity3.5
Low
EPSS probability1.39%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Regular expression denial of service in Papa Parse before 5.2.0 allows attackers to stall parsing with crafted nonnumeric CSV input. The FLOAT expression used when dynamicTyping is enabled contains overlapping digit-matching alternatives that backtrack exponentially on a long numeric prefix followed by a nonnumeric character. Exposure requires untrusted CSV data to reach Papa.parse with dynamicTyping enabled; the resulting CPU consumption can interrupt the consuming application rather than alter or disclose data.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-36649
Published
Jan 11, 2023
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Matt Holt
Product
Papa Parse
Classifications
CWE-1333, CWE-185, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 11, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.0
  2. Affected versionversion=5.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Matt Holt · Papa Parseversion=5.0; version=5.1

Published CVSS scores

3.5VulDBCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
2.3VulDBAV:A/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P
7.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-1333Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
CWE-185Incorrect Regular Expression
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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