CVE-2020-26256 | Denial of service in fast-csv

Exp

Fast-csv is an npm package for parsing and formatting CSVs or any other delimited value file in node. In fast-cvs before version 4.3.6 there is a possible ReDoS vulnerability (Regular Expression Denial of Service) when using ignoreEmpty option when parsing. This has been patched in `v4.3.6` You will only be affected by this if you use the `ignoreEmpty` parsing option. If you do use this option it is recommended that you upgrade to the latest version `v4.3.6` This vulnerability was found using a CodeQL query which identified `EMPTY_ROW_REGEXP` regular expression as vulnerable.

Published: 2020-12-08 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-26256 is rated High Exploit Risk (64.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.07%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-26256

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-26256

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-11-21 1.38% 1.07% -0.31%
2 2025-11-18 1.07% 1.38% +0.31%
3 2025-03-30 — 1.07% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-26256

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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.
 2.1 3.6 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
3.5 2.0 LOW
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 6.8 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-26256

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-26256

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-26256

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
c2fo fast-csv < 4.3.6 cpe:2.3:a:c2fo:fast-csv:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*

References for CVE-2020-26256

cvelogic Threat Intelligence