CVE-2026-13311
HighCVSS 7.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk28th percentile — higher than 28% of all known CVEs
Summary
The vulnerability in shell-quote before version 1.8.5 causes the parse() function to run in O(n^2) time relative to the number of input tokens. An attacker can supply a crafted string that blocks the single-threaded Node.js event loop for an extended period, leading to denial of service (DoS).
Risk Assessment
The risk is the possibility of a DoS attack on Node.js applications using shell-quote to parse input data, which may result in service unavailability for users.
Recommendation
Update the shell-quote library to version 1.8.5 or later, which includes a fix for the computational complexity issue.
Original NVD description (English source)
shell-quote prior to 1.8.5 finalizes parsed tokens in parse() using Array.prototype.concat as a reduce accumulator, which reallocates and copies the entire growing array on every iteration. As a result parse() runs in O(n^2) time relative to the number of input tokens. An attacker who can supply an attacker-controlled string to any code path that calls parse() (no shell metacharacters are required; plain space-separated words suffice) can block the single-threaded Node.js event loop for an extended period with a small input, resulting in a denial of service. There is no code execution or data disclosure; impact is to availability only. Fixed in 1.8.5.