multer vulnerable to Denial of Service via deeply nested field names
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 fixed, 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-400.
Summary
Impact: multer versions 1.0.0 through 2.1.1 and 3.0.0-alpha.1 are vulnerable to a Denial of Service via deeply nested field names in multipart form data. The append-field dependency parses bracket notation in field names with no limit on nesting depth, allowing an attacker to force allocation of deeply nested object structures that consume CPU and memory. A single HTTP request with a crafted multipart body is sufficient to exploit this. Patches: Users should upgrade to multer 2.2.0 (2.x line) or 3.0.0-alpha.2 (3.x prerelease) and configure the new limits.fieldNestingDepth option to the minimum depth their application requires. Workarounds: Set limits.fields to a reasonable value to reduce the number of fields an attacker can send per request. This does not fully mitigate the issue but limits the impact.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| expressjs | multer | 1.0.0 to before 2.2.0; 3.0.0-alpha.1 to before 3.0.0-alpha.2 | 2.2.0, 3.0.0-alpha.2 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | multer (npm) | 1.0.0 to before 2.2.0 | 2.2.0 | Patch available | GHSA-72gw-mp4g-v24j |
| — | multer (npm) | 3.0.0-alpha.1 to before 3.0.0-alpha.2 | 3.0.0-alpha.2 | Patch available | GHSA-72gw-mp4g-v24j |
- multer Vendorexpressjs Affected 1.0.0 to before 2.2.0; 3.0.0-alpha.1 to before 3.0.0-alpha.2 Fixed in 2.2.0, 3.0.0-alpha.2 Patch available CNA
- multer (npm) Vendor— Affected 1.0.0 to before 2.2.0 Fixed in 2.2.0 Patch available GHSA-72gw-mp4g-v24j
- multer (npm) Vendor— Affected 3.0.0-alpha.1 to before 3.0.0-alpha.2 Fixed in 3.0.0-alpha.2 Patch available GHSA-72gw-mp4g-v24j
Remediation
- Fix · CNA multer (multer) Fixed in 2.2.0, 3.0.0-alpha.2
- Fix · GHSA-72gw-mp4g-v24j multer (npm) Fixed in 2.2.0 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-72gw-mp4g-v24j multer (npm) Fixed in 3.0.0-alpha.2 Advisory →
Red Hat 5 advisories
- RHSA-2026:66003 Released 2026-09-09 · Red Hat rating ImportantAnsible automation portal Red Hat Enterprise Linux Images
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.2 registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform/bootc-automation-portal-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:65118 Released 2026-09-08 · Red Hat rating ImportantAnsible plug-ins for Red Hat Developer Hub Product Release Update
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.1 registry.redhat.io/ansible-automation-platform/automation-portal
- RHSA-2026:52768 Released 2026-08-10 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Developer Hub 1.9.8 release.
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9
Show 2 more Red Hat advisories
- RHSA-2026:49642 Released 2026-08-03 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Developer Hub 1.10.3 release.
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10 registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-rhel9-operator
- RHSA-2026:48126 Released 2026-07-29 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Developer Hub 1.10.3 Plugin Catalog GA plugins release.
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10 registry.redhat.io/rhdh/red-hat-developer-hub-backstage-plugin-lightspeed, registry.redhat.io/rhdh/red-hat-developer-hub-backstage-plugin-lightspeed-backend, registry.redhat.io/rhdh/red-hat-developer-hub-backstage-plugin-orchestrator +4
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
multer 2.2.0, 3.0.0-alpha.2
2 records Highest priority Priority LOW 2 LOW
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-04396 multer vulnerable to Denial of Service via incomplete cleanup of aborted uploadsPriority LOW 39
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Logging Subsystem for Red Hat OpenShift | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.1 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:65118 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.2 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:66003 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:48126, RHSA-2026:49642 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:52768 |
Not affected: 7 products
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat Trusted Profile Analyzer
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-5079
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-72gw-mp4g-v24j
References
More expressjs Multer vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-03033 Multer vulnerable to Denial of Service via uncontrolled recursion CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-02853 Multer vulnerable to Denial of Service via incomplete cleanup CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-01995 Multer vulnerable to Denial of Service via resource exhaustion CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-56780 multer vulnerable to Denial of Service via oversized array index in field names CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-53831 multer vulnerable to Denial of Service via crafted multipart field names CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-53816 multer vulnerable to Denial of Service via file descriptor leak on aborted uploads CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-5079 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-5079 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-72gw-mp4g-v24j · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-5079 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences