CVE-2017-16117: Slug Denial of Service Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-jxqq-cqm6-pfq9
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CWE-400
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2017-16117 is a MODERATE denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Slug libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves regular expression denial of service in slug. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.9.2.

CVE-2017-16117 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2017-16117
GHSA Identifier GHSA-jxqq-cqm6-pfq9
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Slug
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2017-16117

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

slug fixed: 0.9.2 
npm install slug@0.9.2
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 slug

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2017-16117, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls slug

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Slug in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.9.2), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls slug 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 Slug, 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 `slug` are vulnerable to a regular expression denial of service when parsing untrusted user input. The issue is low severity, as it takes 50,000 characters to cause the event loop to block for 2 seconds, About 50k characters can block the event loop for 2 seconds. ## Recommendation Update to version 0.9.2 or later.

CVE-2017-16117 Affected Slug Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.9.2
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
slug
npm/slug
npm
< 0.9.2
0.9.2

References

NVD — CVE-2017-16117 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-16117
Slug Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/dodo/node-slug/issues/82
GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-jxqq-cqm6-pfq9
www.npmjs.com/advisories/537 WEB
https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/537

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2017-16117?
CVE-2017-16117 is a security vulnerability in Slug involving Regular Expression Denial of Service in slug under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Slug versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.9.2 across affected packages: slug.
What version fixes CVE-2017-16117?
Upgrading to 0.9.2 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is slug affected?
Yes, slug is affected in releases prior to 0.9.2. Upgrade your dependency to 0.9.2 or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2017-16117?
CVE-2017-16117 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-2017-16117?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls slug'. 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-jxqq-cqm6-pfq9",
  "modified" : "2020-08-31T18:26:54Z",
  "published" : "2018-07-24T20:06:45Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2017-16117" ],
  "summary" : "Regular Expression Denial of Service in slug",
  "details" : "Affected versions of `slug` are vulnerable to a regular expression denial of service when parsing untrusted user input.\n\nThe issue is low severity, as it takes 50,000 characters to cause the event loop to block for 2 seconds,\n\nAbout 50k characters can block the event loop for 2 seconds.\n\n\n## Recommendation\n\nUpdate to version 0.9.2 or later.",
  "severity" : [ ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "slug"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.9.2"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "<= 0.9.1"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-16117"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/dodo/node-slug/issues/82"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-jxqq-cqm6-pfq9"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/537"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T21:44:29Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}