# CVE-2015-9239: Regular Expression Denial of Service in ansi2html

> Attackers can cause denial of service in ansi2html by submitting specially crafted input that triggers excessive regular expression processing.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 31 May 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c2v2-7rcg-2ch7

## What is CVE-2015-9239?

CVE-2015-9239 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in HackerOne ansi2html node module, published on 31 May 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

ansi2html is vulnerable to regular expression denial of service (ReDoS) when certain types of user input is passed in.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-9239?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including ansi2html. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `ansi2html` | npm | From 0.0.0 | None |
| `ansi2html` | npm | From 0.0.0 | None |

Products: Ansi2html Project Ansi2html.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-9239?

No fix has been published for CVE-2015-9239 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2015-9239 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-9239 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-9239 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-9239 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in HackerOne ansi2html node module, published on 31 May 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-9239 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- ansi2html (npm): affected from 0.0.0; no fix listed
- ansi2html (npm): affected from 0.0.0; no fix listed

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-9239/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-9239/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-9239
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-9239
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-9239

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-9239/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.