🚨 [security] Update js-yaml 4.1.0 → 4.2.0 (minor)

[depfu]

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🚨 Your current dependencies have known security vulnerabilities 🚨

This dependency update fixes known security vulnerabilities. Please see the details below and assess their impact carefully. We recommend to merge and deploy this as soon as possible!

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Here is everything you need to know about this update. Please take a good look at what changed and the test results before merging this pull request.

What changed?

✳️ js-yaml (4.1.0 → 4.2.0) · Repo · Changelog

Security Advisories 🚨

🚨 JS-YAML: Quadratic-complexity DoS in merge key handling via repeated aliases

Summary

A crafted YAML document can trigger algorithmic CPU exhaustion in js-yaml merge-key processing (<<) by repeating the same alias many times in a merge sequence.
This causes quadratic parse-time behavior relative to input size and can block a Node.js worker/event loop for seconds with a relatively small payload (tens of KB), resulting in denial of service.

Details

The issue is in merge handling inside lib/loader.js:

• storeMappingPair(...) iterates every element of a merge sequence when key tag is tag:yaml.org,2002:merge.
• For each element, it calls mergeMappings(...).
• mergeMappings(...) computes Object.keys(source) and performs _hasOwnProperty.call(destination, key) checks for each key.

When input is of the form:

a: &a {k0:0, k1:0, ..., kK:0}
b: {<<: [*a, *a, *a, ... repeated M times ...]}
all *a entries refer to the same anchored object. After the first merge, subsequent merges are semantically no-ops, but the parser still reprocesses all keys each time.
Resulting work is O(K * M), while input size is O(K + M), giving quadratic scaling as payload grows.
Relevant code path:
lib/loader.js in storeMappingPair(...) merge branch (keyTag === 'tag:yaml.org,2002:merge')
lib/loader.js mergeMappings(...)

Root cause

File: lib/loader.js
Function: storeMappingPair(state, _result, overridableKeys, keyTag, keyNode,
valueNode, startLine, startLineStart, startPos)
Lines: ~359-366

if (keyTag === 'tag:yaml.org,2002:merge') {
  if (Array.isArray(valueNode)) {
    for (index = 0, quantity = valueNode.length; index < quantity; index += 1) {
      mergeMappings(state, _result, valueNode[index], overridableKeys);
    }
  } else {
    mergeMappings(state, _result, valueNode, overridableKeys);
  }
}

When the merge value is a sequence (YAML 1.1 <<: [ *a, *a, ... ]), each element
is handed to mergeMappings() without deduplication. mergeMappings() then does

sourceKeys = Object.keys(source);
for (index = 0; index < sourceKeys.length; index += 1) {
  key = sourceKeys[index];
  if (!_hasOwnProperty.call(destination, key)) {
    setProperty(destination, key, source[key]);
    overridableKeys[key] = true;
  }
}

Every alias reference in the sequence resolves (by design) to the SAME object
via state.anchorMap. After the first merge, every subsequent merge of that same
reference is a pure no-op semantically, but still performs:

• one Object.keys(source) call (O(K))
• K _hasOwnProperty.call checks on the destination

Total: M * K hasOwnProperty checks + M Object.keys allocations, while the final
object and all observable side effects are identical to a single merge.

YAML semantics for <<: are idempotent and commutative over duplicate sources,
so collapsing duplicates preserves behavior exactly; this isn't a spec trade-off.

PoC

Environment:
js-yaml version: 4.1.1
Node.js: v24.5.0
Platform: arm64 macOS (reproduced consistently)
Reproduction script:
Create many keys in one anchored map (&a).
Merge that same alias repeatedly via <<: [*a, *a, ...].
Measure parse time and compare with control payload using single merge (<<: *a).
Observed repeated runs (same machine):
K=M=1000, input 9,909 bytes: ~33–36 ms
K=M=2000, input 20,909 bytes: ~121–123 ms
K=M=4000, input 42,909 bytes: ~524–537 ms
K=M=6000, input 64,909 bytes: ~1,608–1,829 ms
K=M=8000, input 86,909 bytes: ~3,395–3,565 ms
Control (single merge, similar key counts):
K=2000: ~1–2 ms
K=4000: ~3 ms
K=8000: ~5 ms
Also verified: repeated-merge output equals single-merge output (same key count and same JSON), confirming excess time is redundant computation.

Impact

This is a denial-of-service vulnerability (CPU exhaustion / algorithmic complexity).
Any service parsing untrusted YAML with js-yaml can be impacted, including API backends, CI tools, config processors, and automation services. An attacker can submit crafted YAML to significantly increase CPU time and reduce availability.

Suggested fix:

Dedupe the merge source list by reference before invoking mergeMappings. Any of
the following are minimal and preserve YAML 1.1 merge semantics:

dedupe in storeMappingPair:

if (keyTag === 'tag:yaml.org,2002:merge') {
  if (Array.isArray(valueNode)) {
    var seen = new Set();
    for (index = 0, quantity = valueNode.length; index < quantity; index += 1) {
      var src = valueNode[index];
      if (seen.has(src)) continue;   // idempotent; skip redundant alias
      seen.add(src);
      mergeMappings(state, _result, src, overridableKeys);
    }
  } else {
    mergeMappings(state, _result, valueNode, overridableKeys);
  }
}

🚨 js-yaml has prototype pollution in merge (<<)

Impact

In js-yaml 4.1.0, 4.0.0, and 3.14.1 and below, it's possible for an attacker to modify the prototype of the result of a parsed yaml document via prototype pollution (__proto__). All users who parse untrusted yaml documents may be impacted.

Patches

Problem is patched in js-yaml 4.1.1 and 3.14.2.

Workarounds

You can protect against this kind of attack on the server by using node --disable-proto=delete or deno (in Deno, pollution protection is on by default).

References

https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Prototype_Pollution_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet.html

Release Notes

4.2.0 (from changelog)

Added

• Added docs/safety.md with notes about processing untrusted YAML.
• Added maxDepth (100) loader option. Not a problem, but gives a better exception instead of RangeError on stack overflow.
• Added maxMergeSeqLength (20) loader option. Not a problem after merge fix, but an additional restriction for safety.
• Added sourcemaps to dist/ builds.

Changed

• Stop resolving numbers with underscores as numeric scalars, #627.
• Switched dev toolchains to Vite / neostandard.
• Updated demo.
• Reorganized tests.
• dist/ files are no longer kept in the repository.

Fixed

• Fix parsing of properties on the first implicit block mapping key, #62.
• Fix trailing whitespace handling when folding flow scalar lines, #307.
• Reject top-level block scalars without content indentation, #280.
• Ensure numbers survive round-trip, #737.
• Fix test coverage for issue #221.
• Fix flow scalar trailing whitespace folding, #307.
• Fix digits in YAML named tag handles.

Security

• Fix potential DoS via quadratic complexity in merge - deduplicate repeated elements (makes sense for malformed files > 10K).

4.1.1 (from changelog)

Security

• Fix prototype pollution issue in yaml merge (<<) operator.

Does any of this look wrong? Please let us know.

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