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 nano editor's regex search mode passes a user-controlled search term from doSearch(String text) in builtins/src/main/java/org/jline/builtins/Nano.java to Java's backtracking regular expression engine without a timeout or backtracking bound. A nested-quantifier expression evaluated against non-matching buffer content can consume excessive CPU and indefinitely block the editor session thread, and remote multi-user deployments can lose a worker thread for each affected session. This issue is fixed in versions 3.30.15 and 4.3.1.
References7
- github.com/jline/jline3/commit/1d5fc3099e77938b971e197211cad2d4…
- github.com/jline/jline3/commit/341ee69ccc57b7733c1b40d6993219b6…
- github.com/jline/jline3/pull/2012
- github.com/jline/jline3/pull/2018
- github.com/jline/jline3/releases/tag/4.3.1
- github.com/jline/jline3/releases/tag/jline-3.30.15
- github.com/jline/jline3/security/advisories/GHSA-ph9c-7hw9-vhhw
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
6.5
MEDIUM
Score source: CNA
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - EPSS — exploit probability
- 0% percentile: 38 · as of 9 November 2026
- CWE
- CWE-1333
Could this be exploited in your environment?
A patch closes the known hole. A penetration test shows what an attacker can still reach — with proof.