figlet is vulnerable to denial of service via unbounded loop when whitespaceBreak is used with a small width

Exploitation

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

CVSS 4.0

8.2 · CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N · score source

EPSS

• CVE-2026-96780: 0.50% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 42.56 (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.

Impact A denial-of-service (infinite loop) can occur in text() / textSync() when both: - whitespaceBreak: true is set, and - width is set smaller than the rendered width of a single FIGlet character. Under these conditions breakWord() could never find a valid break point, so the word-wrapping loop in generateFigTextLines() never terminated. This pins a CPU core and grows memory without bound, blocking the Node.js event loop. Severity Low or Medium. Triggering requires a non-default configuration (whitespaceBreak: true) and an attacker-controlled width value reaching text()/textSync(). This library is typically used with fixed options, where this is not reachable. Applications that pass an untrusted width together with whitespaceBreak on a request path are affected. Patches Fixed in figlet 1.11.3. breakWord() now always makes forward progress (emitting an over-wide character on its own line), and FIGlet header parsing now rejects invalid values (e.g. zero/negative height). Workarounds…

Published by the source

2 Oct 2026, 22:39 UTC

Last modified by the source

2 Oct 2026, 23:01 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 13:06 UTC

1. Revision 4 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-62ch-8vmq-8xm7

2. Revision 3 · amended · 24 Oct 2026

   Reviewed OSV alias/range/CVSS4 correction; package source scopes and original publication preserved. No customer finding resolved.

3. Revision 2 · amended · 24 Oct 2026

   Amended from osv record GHSA-62ch-8vmq-8xm7

4. Revision 1 · created · 23 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-62ch-8vmq-8xm7

Preview the exact text before you copy it. Commands are read-only suggestions; review them before running anything.

# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-96780

Advisory: figlet is vulnerable to denial of service via unbounded loop when whitespaceBreak is used with a small width
IDs: CVE-2026-96780, GHSA-62ch-8vmq-8xm7
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-96780 (revision 4, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 13:06 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.2)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: figlet 1.11.3. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm figlet: affected < 1.11.3; fixed in 1.11.3

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `npm ls figlet --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 figlet.
- 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://github.com/advisories/GHSA-62ch-8vmq-8xm7 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-62ch-8vmq-8xm7 lists affected ranges: npm figlet >=0 <1.11.3)
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-62ch-8vmq-8xm7 (OSV record GHSA-62ch-8vmq-8xm7 lists affected ranges: npm figlet >=0 <1.11.3 (fixed))

Commands are suggestions: review each one before running it.