brace-expansion: Large numeric range defeats documented `max` DoS protection
Priority LOW 33CWE-400Published · Updated
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: 8 fixed, 27 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-400.
Summary
The brace-expansion library generates arbitrary strings containing a common prefix and suffix. From 5.0.0 to before 5.0.6, the max option was being applied too late. When expanding a single large numeric range like {1..10000000}, the sequence generation loop generates all 10 million intermediate elements before the max limit is applied With max=10, the output is correctly limited to 10 items, but the process still allocates ~505 MB and spends ~800ms building the full intermediate array. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.0.6.
Why it matters now
Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.003 22nd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial brace-expansion (juliangruber): 5.0.6brace-expansion (npm): 5.0.6Red Hat: 17 advisoriesRed Hat: 8 fixed, 27 without a fix
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| juliangruber | brace-expansion | 5.0.0 to before 5.0.6 | 5.0.6 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | brace-expansion (npm) | 5.0.0 to before 5.0.6 | 5.0.6 | Patch available | GHSA-jxxr-4gwj-5jf2 |
- brace-expansion Vendorjuliangruber Affected 5.0.0 to before 5.0.6 Fixed in 5.0.6 Patch available CNA
- brace-expansion (npm) Vendor— Affected 5.0.0 to before 5.0.6 Fixed in 5.0.6 Patch available GHSA-jxxr-4gwj-5jf2
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:juliangruber:brace-expansion:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* | 5.0.0 to before 5.0.6 | Vulnerable | juliangruber |
- cpe:2.3:a:juliangruber:brace-expansion:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* Versions 5.0.0 to before 5.0.6 Vulnerable ·juliangruber
Remediation
- Fix · CNA brace-expansion (juliangruber) Fixed in 5.0.6
- Fix · GHSA-jxxr-4gwj-5jf2 brace-expansion (npm) Fixed in 5.0.6 Advisory →
Red Hat 17 advisories
- RHSA-2026:62260 Released 2026-09-01 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30.0 Release.
- Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30 registry.redhat.io/devspaces/code-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/devspaces/configbump-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/devspaces/dashboard-rhel9 +7
- RHSA-2026:59566 Released 2026-08-25 · Red Hat rating ImportantKiali 2.22.9 for Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.3
- Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.3 registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/kiali-ossmc-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/kiali-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:59561 Released 2026-08-25 · Red Hat rating ImportantKiali 2.11.16 for Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.1
- Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.1 registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/kiali-ossmc-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/kiali-rhel9
Show 14 more Red Hat advisories
- RHSA-2026:59554 Released 2026-08-25 · Red Hat rating ImportantKiali 2.17.13 for Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.2
- Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.2 registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/kiali-ossmc-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/kiali-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:59548 Released 2026-08-25 · Red Hat rating ImportantKiali 2.4.22 for Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.0
- Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.0 registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/kiali-ossmc-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/openshift-service-mesh/kiali-rhel9
- RHSA-2026:56928 Released 2026-08-19 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat OpenShift Data Foundation 4.22.2 security, enhancement & bug fix update
- Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4.22 registry.redhat.io/odf4/cephcsi-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/odf4/cephcsi-rhel9-operator, registry.redhat.io/odf4/devicefinder-rhel9 +25
- RHSA-2026:48124 Released 2026-07-29 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.29.1 Release.
- Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.29 registry.redhat.io/devspaces/code-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/devspaces/dashboard-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/devspaces/jetbrains-ide-rhel9 +2
- RHSA-2026:24069 Released 2026-06-07 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images clang21-21.1.8-6.hum1@aarch64, clang21-21.1.8-6.hum1@x86_64, clang21-analyzer-21.1.8-6.hum1@aarch64 +47
- RHSA-2026:22934 Released 2026-06-03 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images cargo-1.96.0-1.hum1@aarch64, cargo-1.96.0-1.hum1@x86_64, clippy-1.96.0-1.hum1@aarch64 +32
- RHSA-2026:22380 Released 2026-06-02 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images nodejs26-26.3.0-1.2.hum1@aarch64, nodejs26-26.3.0-1.2.hum1@src, nodejs26-26.3.0-1.2.hum1@x86_64 +14
- RHSA-2026:17682 Released 2026-05-14 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images dotnet8.0-8.0.127-1.hum1@src
- RHSA-2026:13874 Released 2026-05-05 · Red Hat rating ModerateRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images nodejs24-24.15.0-1.hum1@aarch64, nodejs24-24.15.0-1.hum1@src, nodejs24-24.15.0-1.hum1@x86_64 +14
- RHSA-2026:9455 Released 2026-04-21 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images nodejs20-20.20.2-1.hum1@aarch64, nodejs20-20.20.2-1.hum1@src, nodejs20-20.20.2-1.hum1@x86_64 +14
- RHSA-2026:7655 Released 2026-04-11 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images yarnpkg-1.22.22-18.1.hum1@aarch64, yarnpkg-1.22.22-18.1.hum1@src, yarnpkg-1.22.22-18.1.hum1@x86_64
- RHSA-2026:7634 Released 2026-04-11 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images clang-21.1.8-1.1.hum1@aarch64, clang-21.1.8-1.1.hum1@x86_64, clang-analyzer-21.1.8-1.1.hum1@aarch64 +47
- RHSA-2026:7387 Released 2026-04-10 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images nodejs22-22.22.0-1.3.hum1@aarch64, nodejs22-22.22.0-1.3.hum1@src, nodejs22-22.22.0-1.3.hum1@x86_64 +14
- RHSA-2026:7378 Released 2026-04-10 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- Red Hat Hardened Images nodejs25-25.9.0-1.1.hum1@aarch64, nodejs25-25.9.0-1.1.hum1@src, nodejs25-25.9.0-1.1.hum1@x86_64 +14
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Confidential Compute Attestation | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Cryostat 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Exploit Intelligence | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Migration Toolkit for Containers | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Pipelines | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Service Mesh 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Build of Keycloak | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop - Tech Preview | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Connectivity Link 1 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Edge Manager 1 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Process Automation 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Satellite 6 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 2 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 3 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Self-service automation portal 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Hardened Images | Fixed | RHSA-2026:13874, RHSA-2026:17682, RHSA-2026:22380, RHSA-2026:22934, RHSA-2026:24069, RHSA-2026:7378, RHSA-2026:7387, RHSA-2026:7634, RHSA-2026:7655, RHSA-2026:9455 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.29 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:48124 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:62260 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.0 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:59548 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.1 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:59561 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.2 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:59554 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.3 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:59566 |
| Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4.22 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:56928 |
Not affected: 41 products
- Cryostat 4
- Gatekeeper 3
- Migration Toolkit for Applications 8
- Node HealthCheck Operator
- OpenShift Lightspeed
- OpenShift Pipelines
- OpenShift Service Mesh 3
- Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2
- Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
- Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop - Tech Preview
- Red Hat Data Grid 8
- Red Hat Directory Server 11
- Red Hat Directory Server 12
- Red Hat Directory Server 13
- Red Hat Discovery 2
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3
- Red Hat Fuse 7
- Red Hat Hardened Images
- Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7
- Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 8
- Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack
- Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5
- Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces
- Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.29
- Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.30
- Red Hat OpenShift GitOps
- Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4
- Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4.22
- Red Hat Quay 3
- Red Hat Trusted Profile Analyzer
- Red Hat build of Apache Camel - HawtIO 4
- Red Hat build of Apache Camel for Spring Boot 4
- Self-service automation portal 2
- streams for Apache Kafka 2
- streams for Apache Kafka 3
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-45149
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-jxxr-4gwj-5jf2
- 2026-10-27 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
More juliangruber Brace-expansion vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-48532 brace-expansion: DoS via unbounded intermediate arrays, bypassing the CVE-2026-14257 mitigation CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-12072 brace-expansion DoS via unbounded expansion length causing an out-of-memory process crash CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-26129 brace-expansion: Zero-step sequence causes process hang and memory exhaustion CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-45149 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-45149 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-jxxr-4gwj-5jf2 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-45149 · 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