Process crash via malformed IDN formatting
Published Mar 30, 2026 · Updated Mar 30, 2026
Denial of service in Node.js 24.0.0 through 24.14.0 and 25.0.0 through 25.8.1 allows remote authenticated users to crash the process. The url.format() path fails to reject an IDN containing invalid characters before native node_url.cc processing triggers an assertion failure. Reachability requires application code to pass attacker-influenced URL data to url.format(); the failure terminates only the affected Node.js process.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Node.js 24.0.0 through 24.14.0 and 25.0.0 through 25.8.1 allows remote authenticated users to crash the process. The url.format() path fails to reject an IDN containing invalid characters before native node_url.cc processing triggers an assertion failure. Reachability requires application code to pass attacker-influenced URL data to url.format(); the failure terminates only the affected Node.js process.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-21712
- Published
- Mar 30, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 30, 2026
- Vendor
- Node.js
- Product
- Node.js
- Classifications
- CWE-20, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 30, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 30, 2026Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=24.14.0 <=24.14.0
- Affected versionversion=25.8.1 <=25.8.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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