chore(deps): update dependency brace-expansion@>=4.0.0 <5.0.5 to >=5.0.7 [security]

[renovate]

This PR contains the following updates:

Package	Change	Age	Confidence
brace-expansion@>=4.0.0 <5.0.5	[>=5.0.5 → >=5.0.7](https://renovatebot.com/diffs/npm/brace-expansion@>=4.0.0 <5.0.5/5.0.5/5.0.7)

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brace-expansion: DoS via exponential-time expansion of consecutive non-expanding {} groups

CVE-2026-13149 / GHSA-3jxr-9vmj-r5cp

More information

Details

Summary

brace-expansion's expand() exhibits exponential-time - O(2ⁿ) - behavior in the number of consecutive non-expanding {} groups. A short, all-ASCII input (~90 bytes/30 groups) blocks the calling thread for minutes; a slightly longer input hangs it effectively indefinitely. Because the dominant consumers run on Node's single-threaded event loop, one small input can fully stall a worker/process.

In expand_, post is computed unconditionally at the top of the function, before the early-return branches that don't use it:

const post = m.post.length ? expand_(m.post, max, false) : [''];   // always recurses
  ...
if (!isSequence && !isOptions) {
  if (m.post.match(/,(?!,).*\}/)) {
    str = m.pre + '{' + m.body + escClose + m.post;
    return expand_(str, max, true); // restart — `post` discarded
  }
  return [str];
}

For input like a{},{},…, the first {} is non-expanding, so control reaches the {a},b} rewrite branch - but expand_ has already recursed into post over the entire remaining tail, only to throw the result away.
Each level therefore spawns two recursive expansions over essentially the same remaining work: T(n) = 2·T(n−1) ⇒ O(2ⁿ).

The max option does not mitigate this: max only bounds the output-building loops; neither the post recursion nor the rewrite recursion consults it.

Measured on 5.0.6:

groups (n)	input bytes	time
20	60	130 ms
24	72	1.9 s
26	78	7.8 s
30 (PoC)	90	~2 min

Proof of concept

const { expand } = require('brace-expansion');
// 30 non-expanding groups, ~90 bytes — blocks for minutes:
expand('a{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{},{}');

Impact

Any application that passes attacker-influenced strings to brace-expansion.expand() - directly or transitively via minimatch/glob brace patterns - can be driven into a multi-minute-to-indefinite CPU hang by a tiny request, denying service on that thread/process.

Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release. The fix:

1. Defers computing post until after the early-return branches (and computes it locally in the $-suffix branch), so post is only expanded when a brace set actually expands and the value is used. This alone removes the exponential.
2. Converts the {a},b} rewrite from recursion to an in-function loop, so a long run of rewrites cannot grow the call stack.

Verified: the PoC drops from ~2 min to 0.55 ms, 5,000 groups complete in ~344 ms, and output is identical to 5.0.6 across a behavioral-equivalence suite (sequences, padding, $-prefix, a{},b}c, {},a}b, x{{a,b}}y, etc.). Post-fix complexity is ~O(n²) on this input class - acceptable for the security fix; a linear rewrite can be a non-urgent follow-up.

If immediate upgrade isn't possible, avoid passing untrusted input to expand() / glob brace patterns, or run such expansion under a timeout/worker.

Severity

• CVSS Score: 7.7 / 10 (High)
• Vector String: 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/E:P/S:N/AU:Y/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Amber

References

• https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/security/advisories/GHSA-3jxr-9vmj-r5cp
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-13149
• https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/pull/122
• https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/pull/123
• https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/commit/835d6be91201122d9adffb0c0c8c094189ace265
• https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/commit/c7e33ec13ac1a684c116720843ce24e208611754
• https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/commit/d74e63030c012e3b7ae81657b8d665619cd51b95
• https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/releases/tag/v1.1.16
• https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/releases/tag/v2.1.2
• https://github.com/juliangruber/brace-expansion/releases/tag/v5.0.7
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/brace-expansion
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-3jxr-9vmj-r5cp

This data is provided by the GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0).

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Release Notes

juliangruber/brace-expansion (brace-expansion@>=4.0.0 <5.0.5)

v5.0.7

Compare Source

v5.0.6

Compare Source

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