CVE-2026-14257VulnerabilityPublished 12 Aug 2026Updated 29 Oct 2026

Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs Security Update

Affects Red HatSource GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-14257· High 7.5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 09:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 50% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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 23 Jul 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 29 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
juliangruberbrace-expansion	Affected <=5.0.7	Fixed in–
npmbrace-expansion`pkg:npm/brace-expansion`Other threats	Affected <=5.0.7	Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

Red Hat has released updated RPM packages for nodejs24 that fix this vulnerability. Users should apply these updates to remediate the issue. Additionally, do not pass untrusted or user-controlled input to brace-expansion's expand() function or to libraries that use it for glob pattern matching such as minimatch or glob. Validate and sanitize any brace patterns before expansion. Where possible, upgrade to brace-expansion versions 1.1.17, 2.1.3, 3.0.3, or 5.0.8 which add a maxLength option to limit output size. As a defense-in-depth measure, enforce memory limits on Node.js processes using operating system resource controls like cgroups or Kubernetes resource limits to prevent system-wide outages.

Description

A denial of service (DoS) vulnerability exists in the brace-expansion npm package used in Red Hat Hardened Images. The flaw allows a remote attacker to cause excessive memory consumption by providing specially crafted input to the expand() function, potentially crashing the Node.js process with an out-of-memory error. This vulnerability affects applications that pass untrusted input to brace-expansion directly or indirectly via minimatch or glob patterns. The issue is primarily a risk during build or development tooling, as brace-expansion is typically not exposed to untrusted network input at runtime in most Red Hat products. Red Hat has released updated RPM packages addressing this vulnerability.

Impact

The vulnerability can cause a denial of service by crashing the Node.js process due to excessive memory consumption triggered by crafted input to the brace-expansion expand() function. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity. The availability impact is high as the process crash is uncatchable and can disrupt application functionality. The practical exploitability is reduced in most Red Hat products because brace-expansion is typically used only during build or development tooling and not exposed to untrusted network input at runtime.

Summary

The vulnerability CVE-2026-14257 affects the brace-expansion npm package, specifically its expand() function. Although the function limits the number of generated results, it does not limit the length of each result string. An attacker can chain multiple brace groups to keep the result count under the limit while making each result longer, causing memory consumption to grow until the Node.js process crashes with an uncatchable out-of-memory error. This can lead to a denial of service. The vulnerability impacts any application passing attacker-influenced strings to brace-expansion, including transitively via minimatch or glob. Red Hat Hardened Images include updated nodejs24 RPMs that address this issue. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (high severity) as assessed by Red Hat, with no confidentiality or integrity impact but high availability impact.

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #25
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
Requirements
Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.
Architecture and Design
Limit the amount of resources that are accessible to unprivileged users. Set per-user limits for resources. Allow the system administrator to define these limits. Be careful to avoid CWE-410.
Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
Exponential Data Expansion (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data Parameter Blowup (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data with Nested Payloads (opens in a new tab)
Oversized Serialized Data Payloads (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 29 Oct 2026, 09:11 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-770

Technical details

References

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