Out-of-bounds read in GTERMARS JavaScript::Minifier::XS
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
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-125 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
JavaScript::Minifier::XS versions before 0.16 for Perl crash with a NULL pointer dereference when the first meaningful token of the input is a slash. The regexp versus division disambiguator in JsTokenizeString (XS.xs) inspects the previous token's last byte to choose between a regexp literal and a division operator. When a slash is the first meaningful token, with the start of input or only whitespace and comments before it, there is no valid preceding token: the walk back over whitespace and comment nodes runs off the head of the node list to NULL, and the byte lookup reads through a NULL contents pointer at an underflowed length index. The following identifier check dereferences the same NULL pointer. The crash is reachable through the public minify() API, so input as small as a single slash byte crashes the calling process. A service that minifies untrusted or third-party JavaScript can be crashed by a remote request, causing denial of service.
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
Remediation
- Fix · CNA JavaScript::Minifier::XS (GTERMARS) Fixed in 0.16
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
GTERMARS JavaScript::Minifier::XS 0.16
2 records Highest priority Priority MEDIUM 1 MEDIUM, 1 LOW
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-40413 Uncontrolled resource consumption in GTERMARS JavaScript::Minifier::XSPriority MEDIUM 40
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-56017
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-72fp-jmq3-p5xj
More GTERMARS vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-40413 Uncontrolled resource consumption in GTERMARS JavaScript::Minifier::XS CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-11516 Memory leak in GTERMARS CSS::Minifier::XS CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-56017 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-56017 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-72fp-jmq3-p5xj · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-56017 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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