CVE-2017-16138: Mime Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-wrvr-8mpx-r7pp
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-400
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2017-16138 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Mime libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves mime regular expression denial of service when mime lookup performed on untrusted user input. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.0.3, 1.4.1.

CVE-2017-16138 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2017-16138
GHSA Identifier GHSA-wrvr-8mpx-r7pp
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Mime
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-2017-16138

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

mime fixed: 2.0.3 
npm install mime@2.0.3
mime fixed: 1.4.1 
npm install mime@1.4.1
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 mime

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2017-16138, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls mime

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Mime in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.0.3), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls mime 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 Mime, 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 `mime` are vulnerable to regular expression denial of service when a mime lookup is performed on untrusted user input. ## Recommendation Update to version 2.0.3 or later.

CVE-2017-16138 Affected Mime Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2.0.31.4.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
mime
npm/mime
npm
≥ 2.0.0
< 2.0.3
2.0.3
mime
npm/mime
npm
< 1.4.1
1.4.1

References

NVD — CVE-2017-16138 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-16138
Mime Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/broofa/node-mime/issues/167
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/broofa/mime/commit/1df903fdeb9ae7eaa048795b8d580ce2c98f40b0
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/broofa/mime/commit/855d0c4b8b22e4a80b9401a81f2872058eae274d
Mime Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/broofa/mime

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2017-16138?
CVE-2017-16138 is a security vulnerability in Mime involving mime Regular Expression Denial of Service when MIME lookup performed on untrusted user input under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Mime versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2.0.3, 1.4.1 across affected packages: mime.
What version fixes CVE-2017-16138?
Upgrading to 2.0.3, 1.4.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is mime affected?
Yes, mime is affected in releases prior to 2.0.3, 1.4.1. Upgrade your dependency to 2.0.3, 1.4.1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-16138?
CVE-2017-16138 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-2017-16138?
CVE-2017-16138 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-2017-16138?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls mime'. 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-wrvr-8mpx-r7pp",
  "modified" : "2023-09-12T18:28:52Z",
  "published" : "2018-07-20T16:20:52Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2017-16138" ],
  "summary" : "mime Regular Expression Denial of Service when MIME lookup performed on untrusted user input",
  "details" : "Affected versions of `mime` are vulnerable to regular expression denial of service when a mime lookup is performed on untrusted user input.\n\n\n## Recommendation\n\nUpdate to version 2.0.3 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" : "mime"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2.0.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.0.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "mime"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.4.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-16138"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/broofa/node-mime/issues/167"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/broofa/mime/commit/1df903fdeb9ae7eaa048795b8d580ce2c98f40b0"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/broofa/mime/commit/855d0c4b8b22e4a80b9401a81f2872058eae274d"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/broofa/mime"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T22:01:10Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}