Service interruption via uncounted empty merge sources
Published Sep 1, 2026 · Updated Sep 2, 2026
Denial of service in Nodeca js-yaml 3.0.0 through 3.15.1 and 4.0.0 through 4.3.1 allows remote attackers to consume CPU via crafted YAML. The loaders iterate every empty mapping in an aliased merge sequence but add no budget units to maxTotalMergeKeys, producing O(N × K) work without reaching the limit. Merge processing is enabled by default in these release lines, but exposure requires a consuming application to parse attacker-controlled YAML.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Nodeca js-yaml 3.0.0 through 3.15.1 and 4.0.0 through 4.3.1 allows remote attackers to consume CPU via crafted YAML. The loaders iterate every empty mapping in an aliased merge sequence but add no budget units to maxTotalMergeKeys, producing O(N × K) work without reaching the limit. Merge processing is enabled by default in these release lines, but exposure requires a consuming application to parse attacker-controlled YAML.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-84375
- Published
- Sep 1, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 2, 2026
- Vendor
- Nodeca
- Product
- js-yaml
- Classifications
- CWE-400, CWE-407, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- Unavailable
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 1, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 2, 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=>= 3.0.0, < 3.15.2
- Affected versionversion=>= 4.0.0, < 4.3.2
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
- Upstream empty-merge-source CPU exhaustion proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
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