CVE-2018-7158 [High] | Denial of Service in Node.js

The `'path'` module in the Node.js 4.x release line contains a potential regular expression denial of service (ReDoS) vector. The code in question was replaced in Node.js 6.x and later so this vulnerability only impacts all versions of Node.js 4.x. The regular expression, `splitPathRe`, used within the `'path'` module for the various path parsing functions, including `path.dirname()`, `path.extname()` and `path.parse()` was structured in such a way as to allow an attacker to craft a string, that when passed through one of these functions, could take a significant amount of time to evaluate, potentially leading to a full denial of service.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	1.26%	3.38%	+2.12%
2	2026-03-15	1.36%	1.26%	-0.10%
3	2026-03-08	—	1.36%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

1.26%

3.38%

+2.12%

2026-03-15

1.36%

1.26%

-0.10%

2026-03-08

—

1.36%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.5	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	3.9	3.6	[email protected]
5.0	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:L) Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable. Authentication (AU:N) No authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:N) No confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:N) No integrity impact. Availability impact (A:P) Partial availability impact.	10.0	2.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.5

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

3.9

3.6

[email protected]

5.0

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L): Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N): No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N): No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N): No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P): Partial availability impact.

10.0

2.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-7158

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	high	CVE-2018-7158: 2 source package rows (nodejs, nodejs-current); 17 state rows across 17 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-community, 3.17-main, 3.18-community, 3.18-main, 3.19-community, 3.19-main, 3.20-community, 3.20-main, 3.21-community, 3.21-main, 3.22-community, 3.22-main, edge-community, edge-main); fixed 17, open 0.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-7158
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2018-7158 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (nodejs), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-7158
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-7158
`suse`	medium	CVE-2018-7158 severity moderate: SUSE including 62 source package names (MozillaFirefox-68.2.0-78.51.4, MozillaFirefox-branding-SLED-68-21.9.8, …), 171 product×package rows across 11 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 4, … (11 product lines)): Fixed 154, Known Not Affected 17.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-7158/
`ubuntu`	low	CVE-2018-7158 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (nodejs), 20 status rows across 20 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 17, needed 2, released 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-7158

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-7158

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
nodejs	node.js	>= 4.0.0, <= 4.1.2	cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:::::-:::*
nodejs	node.js	>= 4.2.0, <= 4.9.1	cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:::::lts:::*

References for CVE-2018-7158

URL	Tags
https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/march-2018-security-releases/	Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2018-7158

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-7158

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-7158

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-7158

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-7158

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-7158

References for CVE-2018-7158