CVE-2025-66031: Node forge Node-forge Has ASN.1 Unbounded Recursion Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-554w-wpv2-vw27
Share
CWE-674
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2025-66031 is a HIGH node-forge has asn.1 unbounded recursion vulnerability (CWE-674: Uncontrolled Recursion) affecting Node forge libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves node-forge has asn.1 unbounded recursion. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 1.3.2.

CVE-2025-66031 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2025-66031
GHSA Identifier GHSA-554w-wpv2-vw27
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-674: Uncontrolled Recursion
Affected Product Node forge
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2025-66031

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Node forge dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

node-forge fixed: 1.3.2 
npm install node-forge@1.3.2
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

npm ls node-forge

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2025-66031, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls node-forge

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Node forge in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 1.3.2), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls node-forge command inspects dependencies declared in your package.json and lockfile; it does not perform automated runtime dynamic scanning.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-674: Uncontrolled Recursion, where the product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack. In Node forge, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Summary An Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) vulnerability in node-forge versions 1.3.1 and below enables remote, unauthenticated attackers to craft deep ASN.1 structures that trigger unbounded recursive parsing. This leads to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) via stack exhaustion when parsing untrusted DER inputs. ### Details An ASN.1 Denial of Service (Dos) vulnerability exists in the node-forge `asn1.fromDer` function within `forge/lib/asn1.js`. The ASN.1 DER parser implementation (`_fromDer`) recurses for every constructed ASN.1 value (SEQUENCE, SET, etc.) and lacks a guard limiting recursion depth. An attacker can craft a small DER blob containing a very large nesting depth of constructed TLVs which causes the Node.js V8 engine to exhaust its call stack and throw `RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded`, crashing or incapacitating the process handling the parse. This is a remote, low-cost Denial-of-Service against applications that parse untrusted ASN.1 objects. ### Impact This vulnerability enables an unauthenticated attacker to reliably crash a server or client using node-forge for TLS connections or certificate parsing. This vulnerability impacts the ans1.fromDer function in `node-forge` before patched version `1.3.2`. Any downstream application using this component is impacted. These components may be leveraged by downstream applications in ways that enable full compromise of availability.

CVE-2025-66031 Affected Node forge Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
1.3.2
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
node-forge
npm/node-forge
npm
< 1.3.2
1.3.2

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/security/advisories/GHSA-554w-wpv2-vw27
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/commit/260425c6167a38aae038697132483b5517b26451
Node forge Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-66031?
CVE-2025-66031 is a security vulnerability in Node forge involving node-forge has ASN.1 Unbounded Recursion under CWE-674: Uncontrolled Recursion.
Which Node forge versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 1.3.2 across affected packages: node-forge.
What version fixes CVE-2025-66031?
Upgrading to 1.3.2 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is node-forge affected?
Yes, node-forge is affected in releases prior to 1.3.2. Upgrade your dependency to 1.3.2 or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-66031?
CVE-2025-66031 is classified under CWE-674: Uncontrolled Recursion (The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack.).
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2025-66031?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls node-forge'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-554w-wpv2-vw27",
  "modified" : "2025-11-26T22:08:37Z",
  "published" : "2025-11-26T22:08:37Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-66031" ],
  "summary" : "node-forge has ASN.1 Unbounded Recursion",
  "details" : "### Summary\n\nAn Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) vulnerability in node-forge versions 1.3.1 and below enables remote, unauthenticated attackers to craft deep ASN.1 structures that trigger unbounded recursive parsing. This leads to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) via stack exhaustion when parsing untrusted DER inputs.\n\n### Details\n\nAn ASN.1 Denial of Service (Dos) vulnerability exists in the node-forge `asn1.fromDer` function within `forge/lib/asn1.js`. The ASN.1 DER parser implementation (`_fromDer`) recurses for every constructed ASN.1 value (SEQUENCE, SET, etc.) and lacks a guard limiting recursion depth. An attacker can craft a small DER blob containing a very large nesting depth of constructed TLVs which causes the Node.js V8 engine to exhaust its call stack and throw `RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded`, crashing or incapacitating the process handling the parse. This is a remote, low-cost Denial-of-Service against applications that parse untrusted ASN.1 objects.\n\n### Impact\n\nThis vulnerability enables an unauthenticated attacker to reliably crash a server or client using node-forge for TLS connections or certificate parsing.\n\nThis vulnerability impacts the ans1.fromDer function in `node-forge` before patched version `1.3.2`. \n\nAny downstream application using this component is impacted. These components may be leveraged by downstream applications in ways that enable full compromise of availability.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "node-forge"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.3.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/security/advisories/GHSA-554w-wpv2-vw27"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/commit/260425c6167a38aae038697132483b5517b26451"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-674" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2025-11-26T22:08:37Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}