High severity · published Jan 22, 2026
CVE-2026-24001
jsdiff has a Denial of Service vulnerability in parsePatch and applyPatch
7.5
CVSS
0.6%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
jsdiff is a JavaScript text differencing implementation. Prior to versions 8.0.3, 5.2.2, 4.0.4, and 3.5.1, attempting to parse a patch whose filename headers contain the line break characters `\r`, `\u2028`, or `\u2029` can cause the `parsePatch` method to enter an infinite loop. It then consumes memory without limit until the process crashes due to running out of memory. Applications are therefore likely to be vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack if they call `parsePatch` with a user-provided patch as input. A large payload is not needed to trigger the vulnerability, so size limits on user input do not provide any protection. Furthermore, some applications may be vulnerable even when calling `parsePatch` on a patch generated by the application itself if the user is nonetheless able to control the filename headers (e.g. by directly providing the filenames of the files to be diffed). The `applyPatch` method is similarly affected if (and only if) called with a string representation of a patch as an argument, since under the hood it parses that string using `parsePatch`. Other methods of the library are unaffected. Finally, a second and lesser interdependent bug - a ReDOS - also exhibits when those same line break characters are present in a patch's *patch* header (also known as its "leading garbage"). A maliciously-crafted patch header of length *n* can take `parsePatch` O(*n*³) time to parse. Versions 8.0.3, 5.2.2, 4.0.4, and 3.5.1 contain a fix. As a workaround, do not attempt to parse patches that contain any of these characters: `\r`, `\u2028`, or `\u2029`.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.6% · higher than 49% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
JS
jsdiff · kpdecker
>= 6.0.0, < 8.0.3; >= 5.0.0, < 5.2.2; >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.4; < 3.5.1 · source: vendor, NVD
RH
Red Hat Satellite 6 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: CISA