# CVE-2021-23353: Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS)

> Attackers can cause a denial of service in the jsPDF library via a regular expression denial of service in the addImage function.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:R`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Mar 2021
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-57f3-gghm-9mhc

## What is CVE-2021-23353?

CVE-2021-23353 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in jspdf, published on 9 Mar 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

This affects the package jspdf before 2.3.1. ReDoS is possible via the addImage function.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-23353?

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


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `jspdf` | npm | All versions | 2.3.1 |
| `jspdf` | npm | All versions | 2.3.1 |

Products: Parall Jspdf.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-23353?

Upgrade jspdf to 2.3.1 or later.

## Is CVE-2021-23353 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-23353 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in jspdf

- [CVE-2026-31938](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31938/): jsPDF has HTML Injection in New Window paths (critical 9.6)
- [CVE-2025-68428](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68428/): jsPDF has Local File Inclusion/Path Traversal vulnerability (critical 9.2)
- [CVE-2026-25535](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-25535/): jsPDF Affected by Client-Side/Server-Side Denial of Service via Malicious GIF Dimensions (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2026-24133](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24133/): jsPDF Affected by Denial of Service (DoS) via Unvalidated BMP Dimensions in BMPDecoder (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2025-57810](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-57810/): jsPDF Parsing of Corrupt PNGs Leads to Potential Denial of Service (DoS) (high 8.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-23353 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-23353 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in jspdf, published on 9 Mar 2021. 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-2021-23353 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- jspdf (npm): affected all versions; fixed in 2.3.1
- jspdf (npm): affected all versions; fixed in 2.3.1

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-2021-23353/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23353/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-23353
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-23353
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-23353

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23353/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.