Event-loop denial of service via backward tokenizer movement
Published Mar 10, 2026 · Updated Mar 10, 2026
Denial of service in Sindre Sorhus file-type 13.0.0 through 21.3.0 allows remote attackers to stall the Node.js event loop. In the ASF parser, a zero sub-header size makes payload equal -24, and tokenizer.ignore(payload) moves the read position backward so the loop rereads the same header. Any application that submits attacker-controlled input to file-type exposes process availability, while confidentiality and integrity remain unaffected.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Sindre Sorhus file-type 13.0.0 through 21.3.0 allows remote attackers to stall the Node.js event loop. In the ASF parser, a zero sub-header size makes payload equal -24, and tokenizer.ignore(payload) moves the read position backward so the loop rereads the same header. Any application that submits attacker-controlled input to file-type exposes process availability, while confidentiality and integrity remain unaffected.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-31808
- Published
- Mar 10, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 10, 2026
- Vendor
- Sindre Sorhus
- Product
- file-type
- Classifications
- CWE-835, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 10, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 10, 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=>= 13.0.0, < 21.3.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Crafted 55-byte ASF regression payloadproof of concept · demonstrated
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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