ajv-validator/ajv · Security
ajv has ReDoS when using `$data` option
- GHSA ID
- GHSA-2g4f-4pwh-qvx6
- CVE ID
- CVE-2025-69873
- Severity
- medium
- Published
- Updated
- CVSS v4
- 5.5 · CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
Description
ajv (Another JSON Schema Validator) through version 8.17.1 is vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) when the $data option is enabled. The pattern keyword accepts runtime data via JSON Pointer syntax ($data reference), which is passed directly to the JavaScript RegExp() constructor without validation. An attacker can inject a malicious regex pattern (e.g., \"^(a|a)*$\") combined with crafted input to cause catastrophic backtracking. A 31-character payload causes approximately 44 seconds of CPU blocking, with each additional character doubling execution time. This enables complete denial of service with a single HTTP request against any API using ajv with $data: true for dynamic schema validation.
CWEs
- CWE-400 · Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
- CWE-1333 · Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-69873 ↗
- https://github.com/EthanKim88/ethan-cve-disclosures/blob/main/CVE-2025-69873-ajv-ReDoS.md ↗
- https://github.com/ajv-validator/ajv/pull/2586 ↗
- https://github.com/ajv-validator/ajv/commit/720a23fa453ffae8340e92c9b0fe886c54cfe0d5 ↗
- https://github.com/ajv-validator/ajv/releases/tag/v8.18.0 ↗
- https://github.com/ajv-validator/ajv/pull/2588 ↗
- https://github.com/ajv-validator/ajv/releases/tag/v6.14.0 ↗
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-2g4f-4pwh-qvx6 ↗
- https://github.com/ajv-validator/ajv/pull/2590 ↗
- https://github.com/github/advisory-database/pull/6991 ↗