Asymmetric denial of service In handlebars
Description
Handlebars provides the power necessary to let users build semantic templates. In versions 4.0.0 through 4.7.8, when a Handlebars template contains decorator syntax referencing an unregistered decorator (e.g. {{*n}}), the compiled template calls lookupProperty(decorators, "n"), which returns undefined. The runtime then immediately invokes the result as a function, causing an unhandled TypeError: ... is not a function that crashes the Node.js process. Any application that compiles user-supplied templates without wrapping the call in a try/catch is vulnerable to a single-request Denial of Service. Version 4.7.9 fixes the issue. Some workarounds are available. Wrap compilation and rendering in try/catch. Validate template input before passing it to compile(); reject templates containing decorator syntax ({{*...}}) if decorators are not used in your application. Use the pre-compilation workflow; compile templates at build time and serve only pre-compiled templates; do not call compile() at request time.
Mitigation
Update Impact
Minimal update. May introduce new vulnerabilities or breaking changes.
Ecosystem | Package | Affected version | Patched versions |
|---|---|---|---|
npm | 4.7.9 | ||
debian 12 | - | ||
debian 13 | - | ||
rpm rhel9 | - | - | |
rpm rhel8 | - | - | |
debian 14 | 3:4.7.9-1 | ||
debian 11 | - | ||
rpm rhel8 | - | - |
Aliases
References