@octokit/request has a Regular Expression in fetchWrapper that Leads to ReDoS Vulnerability Due to Catastrophic Backtracking

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

5.3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

EPSS

• CVE-2025-25290: 0.78% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 56.06 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary The regular expression /<([^]+); rel="deprecation"/ used to match the link header in HTTP responses is vulnerable to a ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service) attack. This vulnerability arises due to the unbounded nature of the regex's matching behavior, which can lead to catastrophic backtracking when processing specially crafted input. An attacker could exploit this flaw by sending a malicious link header, resulting in excessive CPU usage and potentially causing the server to become unresponsive, impacting service availability. Details The vulnerability resides in the regular expression /<([^]+); rel="deprecation"/, which is used to match the link header in HTTP responses. This regular expression captures content between angle brackets (<) followed by ; rel="deprecation". However, the pattern is vulnerable to ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service) attacks due to its susceptibility to catastrophic backtracking when processing malicious input. An attacker can…

Published by the source

14 Feb 2025, 18:00 UTC

Last modified by the source

10 Sep 2026, 03:50 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 12:41 UTC

1. Revision 2 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-rmvr-2pp2-xj38

2. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-rmvr-2pp2-xj38

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2025-25290

Advisory: @octokit/request has a Regular Expression in fetchWrapper that Leads to ReDoS Vulnerability Due to Catastrophic Backtracking
IDs: CVE-2025-25290, GHSA-rmvr-2pp2-xj38
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2025-25290 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 12:41 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 5.3)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: @octokit/request 9.2.1, 8.4.1. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm @octokit/request: affected >= 9.0.0-beta.1, < 9.2.1; >= 1.0.0, < 8.4.1; fixed in 9.2.1, 8.4.1

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `npm ls @octokit/request --all`: lists every installed copy and version, including transitive ones. Run in the project root after `npm ci`.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on @octokit/request.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-rmvr-2pp2-xj38 (OSV record GHSA-rmvr-2pp2-xj38 lists affected ranges: npm @octokit/request >=9.0.0-beta.1 =1.0.0 <8.4.1 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rmvr-2pp2-xj38 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-rmvr-2pp2-xj38 lists affected ranges: npm @octokit/request >=9.0.0-beta.1 =1.0.0 <8.4.1)

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