CVE-2026-72912 json
CyberChef’s pretty-recipe parser vulnerable to client-side ReDoS / CPU exhaustion when parsing a malformed #recipe= URL
published 3mo ago modified 19d ago also EUVD-2026-55834
- cvss
- 4.3
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.3%
- EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 24%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
CyberChef is a web app for encryption, encoding, compression, and data analysis. Prior to 11.3.0, CyberChef's pretty-recipe parser in src/core/Utils.mjs can exhaust client-side CPU when a malformed #recipe= URL fragment containing a large number of unmatched quote characters reaches Utils.parseRecipeConfig(). The function synchronously applies a complex global regular expression that may perform heavy backtracking before rejecting the input, causing the victim's browser tab to freeze during startup for seconds or longer. No code execution, data exfiltration, or privilege escalation occurs. This issue is fixed in version 11.3.0.
Patch / fix
- gchq cyberchef 11.3.0
- github.com/gchq/CyberChef@f77ddf4 commit
- github.com/gchq/CyberChef#2687 pull request
- github.com/gchq/CyberChef/releases/tag/v11.3.0 release
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Check with FencerCISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 2mo ago
Exploit prediction
0.32% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 24% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 4.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L |
Inferred packages
No advisory lists a package for this vulnerability yet. The CVE names these as products and links their GitHub repository, and the package registry names the same repository, so they are probably the affected packages. Low confidence: the versions are the CVE’s own for the product, and a stack check reports the package as unchecked when there are none.
| ecosystem | package | repository | affected |
|---|---|---|---|
| npm | cyberchef | gchq/cyberchef | no versions given |
Affected products
- gchq CyberChef
Classification
References
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-72912
- NVD CVE-2026-72912
Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.
CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.