Catastrophic regex backtracking in Twisted IMAP wildcard matching
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · Low
- Fix status
- Deferred Red Hat: fix deferred
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-1333.
Summary
Twisted versions 25.5.0 and earlier, and the PyPI package Twisted through 26.4.0, are affected. In the IMAP server, wildcardToRegexp() in twisted/mail/imap4.py passes other characters from LIST or LSUB patterns directly to re.compile() (CWE-1333). An authenticated user with low privileges can send an expensive pattern that causes catastrophic backtracking, and the single-threaded reactor then suspends all server input and output during the match.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-29
Description from the CNA
Twisted is an event-based framework for internet applications, supporting Python 3.6+. In 25.5.0 and earlier, wildcardToRegexp() in twisted/mail/imap4.py translates the IMAP asterisk and percent wildcards but passes all other characters from an authenticated client's LIST or LSUB pattern directly to re.compile(), allowing nested or otherwise expensive regular expression constructs to cause catastrophic backtracking when matched against mailbox names. Because Twisted uses a cooperative single-threaded reactor, the blocking match suspends all server input and output for the duration of the match. No fixed release is available as of this review.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| twisted | twisted | up to 25.5.0 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
| — | Twisted (PyPI) | up to 26.4.0 | — | No fix listed | GHSA-8pqf-f4m5-798g |
- twisted Vendortwisted Affected up to 25.5.0 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
- Twisted (PyPI) Vendor— Affected up to 26.4.0 Fixed in — No fix listed GHSA-8pqf-f4m5-798g
Remediation
The sources list no fixed version for Twisted. Red Hat lists no available fix for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4, and no planned fix for Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.2.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-29
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.2 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Hardened Images
Timeline
- 2026-10-06 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-106454
- 2026-10-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-07 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-07 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-07 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
- 2026-10-07 Alias added: GHSA-8pqf-f4m5-798g
- 2026-10-07 Affected versions changed · GHSA-8pqf-f4m5-798g
- 2026-10-07 CVSS score added · GHSA-8pqf-f4m5-798g
- 2026-10-07 Weakness changed · GHSA-8pqf-f4m5-798g
- 2026-10-07 5 new references · GHSA-8pqf-f4m5-798g
- 2026-10-16 Affected versions changed · GHSA-8pqf-f4m5-798g
References
More twisted vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-79985 Unauthenticated memory exhaustion in Twisted domish XML parser CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-30612 Twisted: Denial of Service (DoS) in twisted.names via Crafted DNS Compression Pointer Chains CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2022-06090 Buffer Overflow in Twisted CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2024-27732 twisted.web has disordered HTTP pipeline response CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
- TI-2024-27854 HTML injection in HTTP redirect body CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.1
- TI-2026-79989 HTTP request smuggling in Twisted web via bare CR or LF in headers CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.4
Sources
- CVE-2026-106454 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-106454 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-8pqf-f4m5-798g · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-106454 · 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