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Unescaped header separators in whatstk cause exponential regex backtracking

Priority LOW 29CWE-1333Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Active
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-1333.

Summary

whatstk versions from 0.2.0 before 0.9.0 build their chat header regular expression without escaping separators. A crafted chat export with a metacharacter date separator, such as +, makes the parser backtrack exponentially on a run of digits, so a party that supplies the chat export can consume CPU indefinitely (CWE-1333). Header auto detection is enabled by default, so the separator comes from the file itself.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-03

Description from the CNA

Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity (CWE-1333) in generate_regex() (whatstk/whatsapp/parser.py) in whatstk from 0.2.0 before 0.9.0 allows a party that supplies a chat export to consume the CPU of the process that parses it for an unbounded time, because the function builds the header regular expression by replacing each %x code with its named capture group and leaves every other character of the header format in the pattern unescaped. A header whose date separator is a regular expression metacharacter therefore alters the pattern instead of matching itself: a separator of + quantifies the preceding capture group, giving (?P<day>\d{1,2})+(?P<month>\d{1,2})+(?P<year>\d{2,4}), and a run of digits that cannot complete the header then makes the engine try every way of partitioning that run. Header auto detection is enabled by default and derives the format from the text of the file, so the separator is taken from the export itself and no header format has to be passed by the caller. Separators of (, ) and \ instead raise re.PatternError, separators of *, | and ? raise TypeError, and separators of ^ and $ raise KeyError, none of which the library catches. This results in the parse of a file of a few hundred bytes consuming CPU without completing, or in an uncaught exception in the calling program.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00129 2nd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed whatstk (lucasrodes): 0.9.0

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

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
lucasrodeswhatstk0.2.0 to before 0.9.00.9.0Patch availableCNA
  • whatstk Vendorlucasrodes Affected 0.2.0 to before 0.9.0 Fixed in 0.9.0 Patch available CNA

Remediation

Upgrade whatstk to version 0.9.0, which fixes the flaw.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-03

  • Fix · CNA whatstk (lucasrodes) Fixed in 0.9.0

Fixed in the same release

Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.

  • Release ·

    lucasrodes whatstk 0.9.0

    2 records Highest priority Priority LOW 2 LOW

    Other records, highest priority first

    • TI-2026-84373 whatstk merge silently drops messages whose dates overlap another chatPriority LOW 10

Timeline

  1. 2026-11-03 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-121577
  2. 2026-11-03 Alias added: GHSA-g94x-jrvx-m3cv
  3. 2026-11-05 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
  4. 2026-11-06 CISA SSVC decision points changed

References

  • TI-2026-84373 whatstk merge silently drops messages whose dates overlap another chat CVSS 4.0LOW 1.8

Sources