CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2022-31129NVD status: Modified

moment: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2022-31129 is a high-severity inefficient regular expression complexity vulnerability in moment, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. Affected moment versions: >= 2.18.0, < 2.29.4. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 5.55% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is in the top 7.03% of all scored CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Check which version of moment you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
  2. Read the advisory on github.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
  3. Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
Momentmoment>= 2.18.0, < 2.29.4Not stated
Fedora ProjectFedora35; 36; 37Not stated
DebianDebian Linux10.0Not stated

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
NoneNo account or login is needed.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
NoneNo data is disclosed.
Integrity
NoneNothing can be modified.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. Scored by NVD.

Scoring systemScoreSeverityScored by
CVSS 3.17.5HighCNA (github.com)
CVSS 3.17.5HighNVD
CVSS 2.05.0MediumNVD

Official description

moment is a JavaScript date library for parsing, validating, manipulating, and formatting dates. Affected versions of moment were found to use an inefficient parsing algorithm. Specifically using string-to-date parsing in moment (more specifically rfc2822 parsing, which is tried by default) has quadratic (N^2) complexity on specific inputs. Users may notice a noticeable slowdown is observed with inputs above 10k characters. Users who pass user-provided strings without sanity length checks to moment constructor are vulnerable to (Re)DoS attacks. The problem is patched in 2.29.4, the patch can be applied to all affected versions with minimal tweaking. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should consider limiting date lengths accepted from user input.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity

The product uses a regular expression with a worst-case computational complexity that is inefficient and possibly exponential.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Use regular expressions that do not support backtracking, e.g. by removing nested quantifiers.
  • Set backtracking limits in the configuration of the regular expression implementation, such as PHP's pcre.backtrack_limit. Also consider limits on execution time for the process.
  • Do not use regular expressions with untrusted input. If regular expressions must be used, avoid using backtracking in the expression.

More Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity vulnerabilities (CWE-1333)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: poc, automatable: yes, technical impact: partial).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Advisories

Patches and release notes

Third-party and government advisories

Other vulnerabilities in moment

All moment vulnerabilities

Recent Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity vulnerabilities

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