CVE-2016-10539: Negotiator Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-7mc5-chhp-fmc3
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CWE-400
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2016-10539 is a HIGH denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Negotiator libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves regular expression denial of service in negotiator. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.6.1.

CVE-2016-10539 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2016-10539
GHSA Identifier GHSA-7mc5-chhp-fmc3
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Negotiator
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2016-10539

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

negotiator fixed: 0.6.1 
npm install negotiator@0.6.1
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 negotiator

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2016-10539, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls negotiator

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Negotiator in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.6.1), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls negotiator 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-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, where the product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource. In Negotiator, 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

Affected versions of `negotiator` are vulnerable to regular expression denial of service attacks, which trigger upon parsing a specially crafted `Accept-Language` header value. ## Recommendation Update to version 0.6.1 or later.

CVE-2016-10539 Affected Negotiator Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.6.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
negotiator
npm/negotiator
npm
< 0.6.1
0.6.1

References

NVD — CVE-2016-10539 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10539
GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-7mc5-chhp-fmc3
www.npmjs.com/advisories/106 WEB
https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/106

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2016-10539?
CVE-2016-10539 is a security vulnerability in Negotiator involving Regular Expression Denial of Service in negotiator under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Negotiator versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.6.1 across affected packages: negotiator.
What version fixes CVE-2016-10539?
Upgrading to 0.6.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is negotiator affected?
Yes, negotiator is affected in releases prior to 0.6.1. Upgrade your dependency to 0.6.1 or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2016-10539?
CVE-2016-10539 is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.).
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2016-10539?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls negotiator'. 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-7mc5-chhp-fmc3",
  "modified" : "2020-08-31T18:11:01Z",
  "published" : "2018-10-09T00:30:30Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2016-10539" ],
  "summary" : "Regular Expression Denial of Service in negotiator",
  "details" : "Affected versions of `negotiator` are vulnerable to regular expression denial of service attacks, which trigger upon parsing a specially crafted `Accept-Language` header value.\n\n\n\n\n## Recommendation\n\nUpdate to version 0.6.1 or later.",
  "severity" : [ ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "negotiator"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.6.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10539"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-7mc5-chhp-fmc3"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/106"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T21:22:57Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}