CVE-2026-27904CWE-1333

minimatch ReDoS: nested *() extglobs generate catastrophically backtracking regular expressions

High · published February 26, 2026

CVSS v3.1
7.5
EPSS
1%
Percentile
43.1
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

minimatch is a minimal matching utility for converting glob expressions into JavaScript RegExp objects. Prior to version 10.2.3, 9.0.7, 8.0.6, 7.4.8, 6.2.2, 5.1.8, 4.2.5, and 3.1.4, nested `*()` extglobs produce regexps with nested unbounded quantifiers (e.g. `(?:(?:a|b)*)*`), which exhibit catastrophic backtracking in V8. With a 12-byte pattern `*(*(*(a|b)))` and an 18-byte non-matching input, `minimatch()` stalls for over 7 seconds. Adding a single nesting level or a few input characters pushes this to minutes. This is the most severe finding: it is triggered by the default `minimatch()` API with no special options, and the minimum viable pattern is only 12 bytes. The same issue affects `+()` extglobs equally. Versions 10.2.3, 9.0.7, 8.0.6, 7.4.8, 6.2.2, 5.1.8, 4.2.5, and 3.1.4 fix the issue.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
7.5 · HIGH
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00516 · 43.1th percentile
Weakness
CWE-1333 · Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
Published
2026-02-26T01:07Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 26 FEB 01:07Z
    minimatch ReDoS: nested *() extglobs generate catastrophically backtracking regular expressions
    cvelistv5