GitHub Advisoryadvisory · npm

GHSA-477h-4r7f-fvrx pbkdf2 rehashes long passwords on every iteration, enabling denial of service

MEDIUM Published 2026-10-06 Modified 2026-10-06 Official page ↗
Aliases
CVE-2026-102414
Ecosystem
npm
Packages
pbkdf2
Severity
Moderate
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Weaknesses
CWE-400
Reviewed
2026-10-06

Affected packages

• npm pbkdf2: < 3.1.7 → fixed in 3.1.7

Description

Summary This is the same bug as Django had (CVE-2013-1443). Details A long password can cause a DoS because it is not using cached HMAC, length limits, or pre-hashing passwords longer than the block size of the hash function as per HMAC spec. This line of code hashes the full password each iteration: https://github.com/browserify/pbkdf2/blob/1c3b1f526b052a29b3b42120c9821895772df7e8/lib/sync.js#L60 Also see https://github.com/browserify/pbkdf2/issues/82 PoC The first key will take a lot longer to generate when not using the native code and uses code from `/lib/sync.js` (ie when this if statement is true): https://github.com/browserify/pbkdf2/blob/1c3b1f526b052a29b3b42120c9821895772df7e8/index.js#L33-L37 ```js var pbkdf2 = require('pbkdf2'); var createHash = require('create-hash'); var pw = ".".repeat(1048576); // 1 MiB var t0 = performance.now(); var key1 = pbkdf2.pbkdf2Sync(pw, "salt", 1000, 32, "sha256"); var t1 = performance.now(); pw = createHash('sha256').update(pw).digest(); // HMAC specification for keys larger than block size var key2 = pbkdf2.pbkdf2Sync(pw, "salt", 1000, 32, "sha256"); var t2 = performance.now(); console.log("First took: " + (t1 - t0)); console.log("Second took: " + (t2 - t1)); console.log("Generated keys:"); console.log(key1); console.log(key2); ``` Impact DoS

Related

Alias · CVE (1)

  • CVE-2026-102414 pbkdf2 through 3.1.6 re-hashes passwords longer than the digest's block size on every iteration in its JavaScript fallback (lib/sync.js). vulnerability

Weakness · CWE (1)

  • CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption weakness

References