{"id":"GHSA-6cv4-p8m7-4r25","summary":"Forge: ReDoS in forge.http response header and cookie trimming","details":"`forge.http` trims response header and `Set-Cookie` values with the regular expression `/\\s*$/`, which takes quadratic time on a long run of whitespace followed by another character. A server or on-path attacker can block a `forge.http` client for minutes with one large response header. Fixed in node-forge 1.4.3.\n\n### Details\n`_trimString()` in `lib/http.js` removes trailing whitespace with `str.replace(/\\s*$/, '')`. On a string of n whitespace characters followed by a non-whitespace character, the regular expression engine tries a match at each of the n positions and scans the rest of the run each time, so the work is O(n^2). `forge.http` calls `_trimString()` on every response header value read by `response.readHeader()`, and again on cookie names and values in `response.getCookies()`. There is no limit on header size.\n\nWith Node.js 24, an 80 KB header value takes about 4 seconds to parse, and 1 MB about 10 minutes, during which the event loop (or browser tab) is blocked.\n\n`forge.http` is not loaded by `require('node-forge')`. It is part of the `forge.all` bundle and needs a socket pool provided by the application (historically Flash sockets via `forge.xhr`), so few applications use it.\n\nThe fix trims trailing whitespace with a loop, as `lib/pem.js` has done since 1.4.1. The trimmed result is unchanged.\n\n#### Patches\nFixed in node-forge 1.4.3.\n\n#### Workarounds\nLimit the size of HTTP response headers before passing them to `forge.http`, for example in the socket pool's data handler.\n\n#### Resources\n- Related: GHSA-7wch-p9px-956x (ReDoS in PEM decoding, fixed in 1.4.1): https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/security/advisories/GHSA-7wch-p9px-956x\n\n#### Severity\nCVSS 3.1: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (5.9, Moderate)\nCVSS 4.0 (informational): CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N (8.2)\nCVSS 4.0 has no counterpart to 3.1's AC:H beyond AT:P and scores this higher; the severity rating follows CVSS 3.1.\n\n#### Credits\nReported by @manus-pi.\n\n### Proof of concept\n    var response = forge.http.createResponse();\n    var ws = new Array(40001).join('\\t ');\n    response.readHeader(forge.util.createBuffer(\n      'HTTP/1.1 200 OK\\r\\nX-A: a' + ws + 'X\\r\\n\\r\\n'));\n    // \u003c= 1.4.2: about 4 seconds (quadratic in the whitespace length)\n    // 1.4.3: about 1 ms\n\nRegression tests are in tests/security/ghsa-6cv4-p8m7-4r25.js.\n\n### Impact\nApplications that use `forge.http` to talk to servers they don't control are affected. The server, or an on-path attacker, can send a response header that blocks the client's event loop for minutes, denying service to everything else in the process. There is no confidentiality or integrity impact.","aliases":["CVE-2026-125333"],"modified":"2026-11-10T21:30:03.999795607Z","published":"2026-11-10T21:16:22Z","database_specific":{"severity":"MODERATE","github_reviewed":true,"github_reviewed_at":"2026-11-10T21:16:22Z","nvd_published_at":null,"cwe_ids":["CWE-1333"]},"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/security/advisories/GHSA-6cv4-p8m7-4r25"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/pull/1169"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/commit/326a4d0903ee46358bc849a5c3fd96d9c21489bd"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/releases/tag/v1.4.3"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"node-forge","ecosystem":"npm","purl":"pkg:npm/node-forge"},"ranges":[{"type":"SEMVER","events":[{"introduced":"0.1.2"},{"fixed":"1.4.3"}]}],"database_specific":{"last_known_affected_version_range":"\u003c= 1.4.2","source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/11/GHSA-6cv4-p8m7-4r25/GHSA-6cv4-p8m7-4r25.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.2","severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"}]}