GitHub Advisoryadvisory · npm

GHSA-pm4m-ph32-ghv5 js-yaml: Exponential parsing time in flow collections leads to denial of service

HIGH Published 2026-07-24 Modified 2026-08-13 Official page ↗
Aliases
CVE-2026-73643
Ecosystem
npm
Packages
js-yaml
Severity
High
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weaknesses
CWE-407
Reviewed
2026-07-24

Affected packages

• npm js-yaml: >= 5.0.0, < 5.2.2 → fixed in 5.2.2

Description

Summary Parsing a small YAML document can take exponential time. An application that calls `load()` or `loadAll()` on untrusted input can be hung by a payload under 200 bytes. Details When an entry in a flow sequence turns out to be a `key: value` pair, the parser rewinds and parses that entry a second time as the key. If the key is itself a nested flow sequence of the same shape, every level is parsed twice, so the total work is O(2^n) in the nesting depth. The default `maxDepth` of 100 does not help, because the time is already unmanageable at about 30 to 40 levels. Root cause, potentially the: `readFlowCollection` in parser.ts, the `restoreState` followed by a second `parseNode` further down. PoC ```javascript const yaml = require('js-yaml') const n = 30 yaml.load('[ '.repeat(n) + '1' + ' ]: 0'.repeat(n)) ``` With default options: 22 levels takes about 1 second, 26 levels about 17 seconds, 30 levels over 2 minutes. The input stays under 200 bytes and grows linearly with `n`. Impact Denial of service. A single small request can keep one CPU busy for minutes or longer and blocks the Node event loop, so one request can stall the whole process. No anchors, aliases, merges, tags, or non default options are required, and it reproduces on the default schema.

Related

Alias · CVE (1)

  • CVE-2026-73643 js-yaml is a JavaScript YAML parser and dumper. vulnerability

Weakness · CWE (1)

  • CWE-407 Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity weakness

References