CVE-2026-77299Regexp2: Unbounded memory amplification via large `{m}` quantifier on a zero-width subexpression
- 7.5HighCVSS base score
- 0.35%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 71% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
Regexp2 is a feature-rich RegExp engine for Go. Prior to version 2.3.0, when regexp2 compiles and matches a pattern containing a large fixed-count quantifier applied to a zero-width subexpression — e.g. (?:){50000000} — the match engine executes the empty loop body m-1 times, pushing two integers onto the backtracking stack on every iteration. Because the parser accepts any repetition count up to math.MaxInt32 and the backtracking stack grows without bound, a pattern of fewer than 20 bytes matched against an empty input can force multi-gigabyte allocation and OOM-kill the process. MatchTimeout does not fully mitigate this because the memory is allocated faster than the 100 ms timeout clock can fire. This issue has been patched in version 2.3.0.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
Show the exploits1
References tagged exploit1 reference
- https://github.com/dlclark/regexp2/security/advisories/GHSA-wq9v-j77v-qr26 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMexploit
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 3 months later
· 3 months later
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Awaiting Analysis | 3.1 | High7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.35% · top 71% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.5.
Affected products
References
References3
- https://github.com/dlclark/regexp2/security/advisories/GHSA-wq9v-j77v-qr26 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMexploit
- https://github.com/dlclark/regexp2/commit/6e446cb3a57a0f20112bc24353604fd00bdb309a (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/dlclark/regexp2/releases/tag/v2.3.0 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-117884 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-77299)Record last updated .