CVE-2026-83606

xmldom PI grammar regex ReDoS: quadratic backtracking on unterminated processing instructions

Published Sep 1, 2026 CVSS 4.0 · 8.7 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
xmldom is a pure JavaScript W3C standard-based (XML DOM Level 2 Core) DOMParser and XMLSerializer module. From 0.9.0-beta.9 until 0.9.11, the processing-instruction production in lib/grammar.js lets the greedy S+ separator and lazy Char*? data group repeatedly repartition a long whitespace tail when the required closing ?> is absent. Both parsePI and parseProcessingInstruction apply the expression to the entire remaining source, causing quadratic backtracking during DOMParser.parseFromString() under default options and allowing a small unauthenticated XML input to stall the Node.js event loop. This issue is fixed in @xmldom/xmldom version 0.9.11.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-g53g-w8rj-fmg7 xmldom PI grammar regex ReDoS: quadratic backtracking on unterminated processing instructions
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Important

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Xmldom
Xmldom xmldom
Vendors & Products Xmldom
Xmldom xmldom
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description xmldom is a pure JavaScript W3C standard-based (XML DOM Level 2 Core) DOMParser and XMLSerializer module. From 0.9.0-beta.9 until 0.9.11, the processing-instruction production in lib/grammar.js lets the greedy S+ separator and lazy Char*? data group repeatedly repartition a long whitespace tail when the required closing ?> is absent. Both parsePI and parseProcessingInstruction apply the expression to the entire remaining source, causing quadratic backtracking during DOMParser.parseFromString() under default options and allowing a small unauthenticated XML input to stall the Node.js event loop. This issue is fixed in @xmldom/xmldom version 0.9.11.
Title xmldom PI grammar regex ReDoS: quadratic backtracking on unterminated processing instructions
Weaknesses CWE-1333
CWE-400
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 8.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Sep 1, 2026, 2:57 PM
Reserved
Aug 31, 2026, 8:36 PM
Status
Deferred
Published
Sep 1, 2026, 3:17 PM
Modified
Sep 8, 2026, 9:11 PM
Severity
Important
Public date
Sep 1, 2026, 2:21 PM