Service interruption via catastrophic extglob backtracking
Published Mar 26, 2026 · Updated Mar 26, 2026
Regular expression denial of service in Picomatch before 2.3.2, 3.0.2, and 4.0.4 allows attackers to block Node.js applications. The parser in lib/parse.js compiles repeated or nested +() and *() extglobs with overlapping alternatives into regexes that catastrophically backtrack on non-matching strings. Exposure requires a consuming application to accept untrusted glob patterns; successful requests consume CPU and stall its event loop without reading or changing data.
Summary
What happened
Regular expression denial of service in Picomatch before 2.3.2, 3.0.2, and 4.0.4 allows attackers to block Node.js applications. The parser in lib/parse.js compiles repeated or nested +() and *() extglobs with overlapping alternatives into regexes that catastrophically backtrack on non-matching strings. Exposure requires a consuming application to accept untrusted glob patterns; successful requests consume CPU and stall its event loop without reading or changing data.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-33671
- Published
- Mar 26, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 26, 2026
- Vendor
- Micromatch
- Product
- Picomatch
- Classifications
- CWE-1333, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 26, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 26, 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=< 2.3.2
- Affected versionversion=>= 3.0.0, < 3.0.2
- Affected versionversion=>= 4.0.0, < 4.0.4
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
- GHSA extglob ReDoS reproducerproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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