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Nodemailer EUVDEUVD-2026-87673

| CVE-2026-100700 HIGH
Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity (CWE-407)
2026-09-26 VulnCheck GHSA-c7vw-frhj-6h9j
8.7
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: VulnCheck
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Identify endpoint feeding input to nodemailer
  2. Delivery
    Craft header with long whitespace-free run
  3. Exploit
    Submit crafted address/header value
  4. Execution
    Trigger quadratic regex backtracking
  5. Persist
    Block Node.js event loop tens of seconds
  6. Impact
    Service unavailable to all users

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Algorithmic complexity limits
Exploitation Conditions

Requires that the deploying application pass attacker-controllable email address or header values into nodemailer's addressparser (before version 10.0.6) - e.g., user-supplied recipient/sender fields, contact-form addresses, or inbound headers parsed via nodemailer. The malicious value must contain a long whitespace-free run to invoke the free-text fallback regex's quadratic backtracking. Limiting factors: impact is confined to blocking the Node.js event loop of the affected process (transient unavailability, not a crash or RCE); if the application never routes untrusted input into address parsing, the flaw is not reachable; upgrading to nodemailer 10.0.6 fully remediates.

Impact

This is a genuine but availability-only risk. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N, VA:H, all other impacts N) correctly frames it as a network-reachable, low-complexity, unauthenticated denial of service with no confidentiality or integrity impact - CWE-407 (inefficient algorithmic complexity / ReDoS) is consistent with this. The vendor's 8.7 score is driven entirely by VA:H plus the easy attack profile; there is no code execution or data exposure, so the real-world severity is lower than the raw number suggests. No EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit are present in the provided data, so exploitation is unproven despite the theoretically easy vector. The important nuance the CVSS vector understates: nodemailer is a library, not a standalone service, so PR:N/AV:N only materializes if the consuming application feeds untrusted, attacker-controlled header/address input into the parser - a very common but not universal pattern. Impact is also a single-process event-loop stall (tens of seconds) rather than a persistent crash, which limits durable damage. Net: a real prioritization candidate for internet-facing Node.js mail-handling services, but not a critical drop-everything issue.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker submits an email address or header value (e.g., via a web contact form, signup, or inbound mail relay that the application passes to nodemailer's addressparser) containing a long whitespace-free run engineered to trigger quadratic regex backtracking. Parsing this single value blocks the Node.js event loop for tens of seconds, stalling all concurrent requests on that process and denying service to legitimate users. No public exploit code is identified at time of analysis, but the payload is trivial to construct given the known ReDoS pattern.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 26, 2026

Denial of service in Nodemailer versions before 10.0.6 lets remote, unauthenticated attackers stall the Node.js event loop for tens of seconds by supplying crafted email address or header values that trigger quadratic backtracking in the addressparser free-text fallback regex. The flaw is only reachable when an application routes attacker-controllable strings into nodemailer's address parsing - user-supplied recipient or sender fields, contact-form addresses, or inbound headers - and the impact is availability only, with no crash, code execution, or data exposure since the affected process simply stops responding while the single-threaded event loop is blocked. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, and upgrading to nodemailer 10.0.6 fully remediates the issue.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to nodemailer 10.0.6 - the vendor-released fixed version - which corrects the regex behavior; the advisory is at https://github.com/nodemailer/nodemailer/security/advisories/GHSA-v53p-9fqp-m79j and additional detail is at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nodemailer-before-10.0.6-denial-of-service-via-addressparser. If immediate upgrade is not possible, the most direct compensating control is to strictly validate and length-cap any value before it reaches address parsing: reject or truncate overly long header/address strings, especially long whitespace-free runs (trade-off: legitimate long display names or unusual addresses may be rejected, so set the limit generously above realistic input). Additionally, wrap parsing in worker threads or a separate process so a pathological regex cannot monopolize the main event loop (trade-off: added architectural complexity and inter-process overhead), and enforce server-level request timeouts plus per-client rate limiting to bound the duration and frequency of any single stall (trade-off: only reduces impact, it does not remove the underlying algorithmic weakness).

Affected VersionsENISA

nodemailer 0 <10.0.6

Affected Packages

npm nodemailer fix: 10.0.6

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in npm

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The vulnerability is an inefficient-algorithmic-complexity flaw (CWE-407) in the addressparser component shipped with the nodemailer npm package; the CPE cpe:2.3:a:nodemailer:nodemailer:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* identifies the package itself as the affected artifact, with EUVD narrowing the range to all releases from 0 up to (but not including) 10.0.6. Address parsing in nodemailer first attempts a structured RFC-style address match, and when that fails it falls back to a free-text regular expression used to salvage a display name or unparsed address. That fallback pattern contains nested quantifiers/alternation that exhibit quadratic (O(n^2)) backtracking on input consisting of a long run of characters without whitespace, so a single malformed header consumes CPU proportional to the square of its length. Because Node.js executes JavaScript on a single event loop thread, the regex engine monopolizes that thread and every pending request, timer, and I/O callback in the process is delayed until matching completes - measured in tens of seconds for sufficiently long inputs. This is classic regular-expression denial of service (ReDoS) behavior, and its blast radius is limited to the specific process performing the parse.

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Severity by source

Vendor (VulnCheck) PRIMARY 8.7 HIGH
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
vuln.today AI 7.5 HIGH

Network-reachable, low-complexity ReDoS with no auth or interaction at the library boundary; availability-only impact so C:N/I:N/A:H, scope unchanged.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Red Hat 7.5 HIGH

Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).

CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Vulnerable system: Confidentiality
None
Vulnerable system: Integrity
None
Vulnerable system: Availability
High
Subsequent system: Confidentiality
None
Subsequent system: Integrity
None
Subsequent system: Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Patch available
Sep 26, 2026 - 14:02 EUVD
CVE Published
Sep 26, 2026 - 13:23 cve.org
HIGH 8.7

DescriptionCVE.org

nodemailer before 10.0.6 contains a denial of service vulnerability in the addressparser free-text fallback regex pattern that exhibits quadratic backtracking behavior. Attackers can supply crafted email header values with long whitespace-free runs to block the Node.js event loop for tens of seconds, causing service unavailability.

Blast Radius

ecosystem impact
† from your stack dependencies † transitive graph · vuln.today resolves 4-path depth
  • 3 npm packages depend on nodemailer (1 direct, 2 indirect)

Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 10.0.6.

Technical POC Analysis

The bug class is inefficient algorithmic complexity (CWE-407), realized specifically as an inefficient regular expression (CWE-1333) in nodemailer's address parser.

Full technical POC analysis - root cause, step-by-step exploitation and patch breakdown - is part of the Pro and Business plans.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Nodemailer, a widely used Node.js email library, is affected by a high-severity denial-of-service vulnerability in versions prior to 10.0.6. Applications that route untrusted user input into Nodemailer's address parsing can be forced to stall, disrupting email-dependent services and potentially causing operational downtime. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, but leadership should prioritize patching to maintain service availability.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 82% exploitable
Prevalence
High
nodemailer is the de facto standard email-sending library across the Node.js ecosystem
Data Quality
8 sources
Confidence: High
EUVD NVD CVE.org EPSS Vulnrichment Vendor GitHub VulDB

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision
Scheduled
Exploitation
Poc
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
Yes
Human Impact
High
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

44
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +44
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

CVE-2020-7769 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Nov 12

This affects the package nodemailer before 6.4.16. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely ex

CVE-2021-23400 HIGH POC
8.8 Jun 29

The package nodemailer before 6.6.1 are vulnerable to HTTP Header Injection if unsanitized user input that may contain n

CVE-2026-90776 HIGH POC
8.7 Sep 13

Quadratic time complexity in Nodemailer's addressparser component, versions 9.1.0 through 10.0.4, allows remote unauthen

CVE-2025-14874 HIGH POC
7.5 Dec 18

Unbounded recursion in Nodemailer's address parser (npm package versions 3.0.0 through 7.0.10) allows a single crafted e

CVE-2026-82659 HIGH POC
7.1 Aug 31

Sandbox bypass in nodemailer <= 9.0.0 exposes arbitrary file read and full-response SSRF to any authenticated applicatio

CVE-2026-82854 CRITICAL
9.3 Aug 31

SMTP command injection in Nodemailer before 8.0.4 lets attackers smuggle arbitrary SMTP verbs (notably RCPT TO) into out

CVE-2026-82662 HIGH
8.3 Aug 31

TLS certificate verification is disabled by hardcoded `rejectUnauthorized: false` in Nodemailer's internal HTTPS fetch c

CVE-2026-100702 HIGH
8.2 Sep 26

Stack exhaustion in Nodemailer before 10.0.2 allows unauthenticated remote attackers to crash an affected Node.js proces

CVE-2026-82853 MEDIUM
6.9 Aug 31

SMTP command injection in Nodemailer (npm) versions up to and including 8.0.4 allows an attacker who can influence the t

CVE-2026-100699 MEDIUM
6.9 Sep 26

Remote, unauthenticated attackers can exploit mis-parsing of recipient addresses in Nodemailer versions 9.1.0 through 10

CVE-2026-100701 MEDIUM
6.0 Sep 26

TLS certificate validation bypass in Nodemailer 5.0.0 through 10.0.1 allows an attacker who can prime a process-global D

CVE-2026-82661 MEDIUM
5.3 Aug 31

CRLF injection in Nodemailer's List-* header construction allows any application-level user with control over list comme

Vendor StatusVendor

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