Service interruption via repeated wildcard regex backtracking
Published Mar 26, 2026 · Updated Mar 26, 2026
Regular expression denial of service in PillarJS path-to-regexp 8.0.0 through 8.3.0 allows remote attackers to hang services via crafted paths. The toRegExpSource routine emits overlapping wildcard capture paths without preventing later wildcards from reconsidering text already consumed, causing catastrophic backtracking on crafted input. Reachability requires an application route with multiple wildcards and at least one parameter, with a nonterminal second wildcard; a long matching request can monopolize the JavaScript event loop and hang the service.
Summary
What happened
Regular expression denial of service in PillarJS path-to-regexp 8.0.0 through 8.3.0 allows remote attackers to hang services via crafted paths. The toRegExpSource routine emits overlapping wildcard capture paths without preventing later wildcards from reconsidering text already consumed, causing catastrophic backtracking on crafted input. Reachability requires an application route with multiple wildcards and at least one parameter, with a nonterminal second wildcard; a long matching request can monopolize the JavaScript event loop and hang the service.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-4923
- Published
- Mar 26, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 26, 2026
- Vendor
- PillarJS
- Product
- path-to-regexp
- 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=8.0.0 <8.4.0
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
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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