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TI-2026-85717 Aliases CVE-2026-77299

Unbounded memory growth in Regexp2 via large repetition counts

Priority HIGH 72CWE-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: 16 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-400.

Summary

dlclark regexp2 before 2.3.0 does not bound memory use when a large fixed-count quantifier such as {m} is applied to a zero-width subexpression (CWE-400). The engine runs the empty loop body up to m-1 times and keeps growing its backtracking stack without limit. A remote attacker can supply a pattern under 20 bytes that forces multi-gigabyte allocation and terminates the process. CISA SSVC data lists a proof of concept.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

Description from the CNA

Regexp2 is a feature-rich RegExp engine for Go. Prior to version 2.3.0, when regexp2 compiles and matches a pattern containing a large fixed-count quantifier applied to a zero-width subexpression — e.g. (?:){50000000} — the match engine executes the empty loop body m-1 times, pushing two integers onto the backtracking stack on every iteration. Because the parser accepts any repetition count up to math.MaxInt32 and the backtracking stack grows without bound, a pattern of fewer than 20 bytes matched against an empty input can force multi-gigabyte allocation and OOM-kill the process. MatchTimeout does not fully mitigate this because the memory is allocated faster than the 100 ms timeout clock can fire. This issue has been patched in version 2.3.0.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00346 28th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial regexp2 (dlclark): 2.3.0Red Hat: 16 without a fix

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
Poc
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

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
dlclarkregexp2before 2.3.02.3.0Patch availableCNA
  • regexp2 Vendordlclark Affected before 2.3.0 Fixed in 2.3.0 Patch available CNA

Remediation

Upgrade dlclark regexp2 to version 2.3.0. Red Hat lists these products as affected without a fix: Logging Subsystem for Red Hat OpenShift, Migration Toolkit for Applications 8, Multicluster Global Hub, Multicluster Global Hub 5, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2, and other products. Red Hat states that no plan is available for Red Hat Ceph Storage 8.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

  • Fix · CNA regexp2 (dlclark) Fixed in 2.3.0

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Logging Subsystem for Red Hat OpenShiftAffected—
Migration Toolkit for Applications 8Affected—
Multicluster Global HubAffected—
Multicluster Global Hub 5Affected—
OpenShift Service Mesh 3Affected—
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2Affected—
Red Hat Ceph Storage 8AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10Affected—
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Affected—
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9Affected—
Red Hat Hardened ImagesAffected—
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4Affected—
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5Affected—
Red Hat OpenShift GitOpsAffected—
Red Hat OpenStack Platform 18.0Affected—
Red Hat Openshift Data Foundation 4AffectedNo fix yet

Timeline

  1. 2026-11-06 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-77299
  2. 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  3. 2026-11-06 CVSS score added · Red Hat
  4. 2026-11-06 CISA SSVC decision points changed
  5. 2026-11-06 Priority changed: MEDIUM → HIGH

References

Sources