VulnerabilityPublished 30 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-119202: @hapi/content · quadratic-time parsing of Content-Disposition parameters allows denial of service

Affects @hapi/contentSource GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-119202· High 7.5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High : upgrade to 6.0.3 soon.

Data as of 31 Oct 2026, 01:54 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

CVSS scores by source
CNA (GitHub_M)	CVSS 3.1	7.5

Patch: Available – fixed in 6.0.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 29 Oct 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade @hapi/content to 6.0.3.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
npm@hapi/content	Affected <6.0.3	Fixed in 6.0.3
npmcontent	Affected >=3.0.6 <=4.0.6	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Upgrade @hapi/content to version 6.0.3 or later where the vulnerability is fixed. Until upgrading, reduce the payload.maxBytes setting on routes accepting multipart payloads to limit the maximum token size and reduce blocking duration. No other effective workarounds are available.

Description

A denial of service vulnerability exists in @hapi/content versions prior to 6.0.3 due to quadratic-time parsing of Content-Disposition parameters. An unauthenticated attacker can send a multipart/form-data request with a long token lacking an '=' character, causing the Node.js event loop to block for several seconds to minutes. This affects hapi servers with multipart payload routes and applications using Content.disposition() on untrusted headers. The issue is fixed in version 6.0.3.

Impact

This vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to cause a denial of service by sending a single multipart/form-data request with a crafted Content-Disposition header. The Node.js event loop is blocked, making the server unresponsive to all clients for seconds to minutes depending on token length. This impacts availability of hapi servers with multipart payload routes and any application using Content.disposition() on untrusted input. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity.

Summary

The vulnerability arises from the Content.disposition() function in @hapi/content, which uses a global regular expression to parse Content-Disposition parameters. The regex lacks an anchor on the parameter name part, causing quadratic time complexity when parsing a long token without an '=' character. This leads to excessive CPU usage and blocks the Node.js event loop. The flaw affects all versions from 3.0.6 up to and including 6.0.2. The fix in 6.0.3 modifies the regex to handle such tokens linearly, preventing the denial of service. No effective workarounds exist other than upgrading. Reducing payload.maxBytes can mitigate the delay but not eliminate the risk.

CWE-1333Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: High
The product uses a regular expression with a worst-case computational complexity that is inefficient and possibly exponential.
Architecture and Design
Use regular expressions that do not support backtracking, e.g. by removing nested quantifiers.
System Configuration
Set backtracking limits in the configuration of the regular expression implementation, such as PHP's pcre.backtrack_limit. Also consider limits on execution time for the process.
Implementation
Do not use regular expressions with untrusted input. If regular expressions must be used, avoid using backtracking in the expression.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
File Upload (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.1.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Regular Expression Exponential Blowup (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 31 Oct 2026, 01:54 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-1333

Technical details

References

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