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CVE Record

CVE-2026-9496: Versions of the package pacote from 11.2.7 and before 21.5.1 are vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) via...

Versions of the package pacote from 11.2.7 and before 21.5.1 are vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) via the addGitSha function. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by supplying a specially crafted spec.rawSpec value that triggers the function’s regex replacement and string-manipulation logic, causing excessive CPU consumption and potentially stalling or crashing the process.

HighCVSS 8.7Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2026-9496 is a denial-of-service flaw in the pacote package. A crafted package spec can make pacote consume excessive CPU during string processing, potentially stalling or crashing the process. This affects availability, not data confidentiality or integrity, based on the provided CVSS vector.

Executive priority

Prioritize remediation for internet-facing or multi-tenant systems that process package specifications. The business risk is service outage or degraded build/package workflows, not data theft. Treat as high priority where untrusted input reaches pacote.

Technical view

The issue is in pacote’s addGitSha function. A specially crafted spec.rawSpec can trigger inefficient regex replacement and string manipulation, causing excessive CPU consumption. Sources map this to CWE-1333 and CWE-400. The described vulnerable range is versions from 11.2.7 and before 21.5.1, including the Java WebJar package org.webjars.npm:pacote.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most relevant where pacote processes untrusted or user-controlled package specifications, especially git-style dependency specs. Organizations may be affected through direct pacote use or transitive dependencies in Node.js tooling or the listed WebJar artifact.

Exploitation context

The sources describe network-exploitable, unauthenticated denial of service with low attack complexity and no user interaction. CISA KEV status is false in the provided bundle, and no cited source states active exploitation.

Researcher notes

The provided evidence points to algorithmic complexity/resource exhaustion in addGitSha. The GitHub commit is relevant to code changes, but this assessment does not provide exploit steps. Version and package naming should be validated against Snyk and the CVE record during triage.

Mitigation direction

  • Inventory direct and transitive use of pacote and org.webjars.npm:pacote.
  • Upgrade pacote to 21.5.1 or later where compatible.
  • Update org.webjars.npm:pacote when a fixed version is available from its package source.
  • Review vendor, Snyk, and npm/pacote guidance before applying compensating controls.
  • Avoid processing untrusted package specs in exposed services where practical.

Validation and detection

  • Check lockfiles and dependency manifests for pacote versions before 21.5.1.
  • Check Java dependency inventories for org.webjars.npm:pacote.
  • Identify services that pass user-controlled specs into pacote processing.
  • Confirm upgraded builds resolve to non-vulnerable pacote versions.
  • Monitor affected services for CPU spikes or process stalls.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
6

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-1333: Exact CWE lookup

Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-400: Exact CWE lookup

Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2026-9496 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

Open ATT&CK lookup
Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
8.7 (4.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

2CVSS vectors
3Timeline events
1ADP providers
5Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: pocAutomatable: yesTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

2 official scores

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
8.7CVSS 4.0HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P——snyk
7.5CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:P3.93.6snyk

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 4.0 score

8.7High
CVSS 4.0 vector shape for CVE-2026-9496Attack VectorAttack ComplexityAttack RequirementsPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionVS ConfidentialityVS IntegrityVS AvailabilitySS ConfidentialitySS IntegritySS Availability

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Attack Requirements
NonePresent
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NonePassiveActive
VS Confidentiality
HighLowNone
VS Integrity
HighLowNone
VS Availability
HighLowNone
SS Confidentiality
HighLowNone
SS Integrity
HighLowNone
SS Availability
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  3. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
n/apacote11.2.7Listed
n/aorg.webjars.npm:pacote11.2.7Listed
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-1333CWE-400

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-1333 · source CWE mapping

Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity

Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs
CWE-400 · source CWE mapping

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs