CVE-2026-77422
The wrapping expands the backtracking search space, so a short nested-quantifier expression evaluated against non-matching input can consume excessive CPU and indefinitely block a command worker, including in remotely exposed shell sessions.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.60%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
JLine is a Java library for handling console input. From 3.0.0 until 3.30.15 and 4.3.1, the JLine built-in grep command in builtins/src/main/java/org/jline/builtins/PosixCommands.java accepts a user-controlled regular expression in grep(...) and, unless line-regexp mode is used, automatically adds a dot-star prefix and suffix before compiling it with Java's backtracking regular expression engine. The wrapping expands the backtracking search space, so a short nested-quantifier expression evaluated against non-matching input can consume excessive CPU and indefinitely block a command worker, including in remotely exposed shell sessions. This issue is fixed in versions 3.30.15 and 4.3.1.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.60% probability · 48th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-1333
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
EPSS moved from 0.5% on 24 September 2026 to 0.6% on 26 October 2026.
References
- https://github.com/jline/jline3/commit/1d5fc3099e77938b971e197211cad2d4fbb17541
- https://github.com/jline/jline3/commit/341ee69ccc57b7733c1b40d6993219b64b3206ae
- https://github.com/jline/jline3/pull/2012
- https://github.com/jline/jline3/pull/2018
- https://github.com/jline/jline3/releases/tag/4.3.1
- https://github.com/jline/jline3/releases/tag/jline-3.30.15
- https://github.com/jline/jline3/security/advisories/GHSA-r2xf-8xr9-62gw
- https://github.com/jline/jline3/security/advisories/GHSA-r2xf-8xr9-62gw
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.