chore(deps): update dependency qs@<6.14.1 to >=6.15.0 [security]

[renovate]

This PR contains the following updates:

Package	Change	Age	Confidence
qs@<6.14.1	>=6.14.1 → >=6.15.0

GitHub Vulnerability Alerts

CVE-2026-2391

Summary

The arrayLimit option in qs does not enforce limits for comma-separated values when comma: true is enabled, allowing attackers to cause denial-of-service via memory exhaustion. This is a bypass of the array limit enforcement, similar to the bracket notation bypass addressed in GHSA-6rw7-vpxm-498p (CVE-2025-15284).

Details

When the comma option is set to true (not the default, but configurable in applications), qs allows parsing comma-separated strings as arrays (e.g., ?param=a,b,c becomes ['a', 'b', 'c']). However, the limit check for arrayLimit (default: 20) and the optional throwOnLimitExceeded occur after the comma-handling logic in parseArrayValue, enabling a bypass. This permits creation of arbitrarily large arrays from a single parameter, leading to excessive memory allocation.

Vulnerable code (lib/parse.js: lines ~40-50):

if (val && typeof val === 'string' && options.comma && val.indexOf(',') > -1) {
    return val.split(',');
}

if (options.throwOnLimitExceeded && currentArrayLength >= options.arrayLimit) {
    throw new RangeError('Array limit exceeded. Only ' + options.arrayLimit + ' element' + (options.arrayLimit === 1 ? '' : 's') + ' allowed in an array.');
}

return val;

The split(',') returns the array immediately, skipping the subsequent limit check. Downstream merging via utils.combine does not prevent allocation, even if it marks overflows for sparse arrays.This discrepancy allows attackers to send a single parameter with millions of commas (e.g., ?param=,,,,,,,,...), allocating massive arrays in memory without triggering limits. It bypasses the intent of arrayLimit, which is enforced correctly for indexed (a[0]=) and bracket (a[]=) notations (the latter fixed in v6.14.1 per GHSA-6rw7-vpxm-498p).

PoC

Test 1 - Basic bypass:

npm install qs

const qs = require('qs');

const payload = 'a=' + ','.repeat(25);  // 26 elements after split (bypasses arrayLimit: 5)
const options = { comma: true, arrayLimit: 5, throwOnLimitExceeded: true };

try {
  const result = qs.parse(payload, options);
  console.log(result.a.length);  // Outputs: 26 (bypass successful)
} catch (e) {
  console.log('Limit enforced:', e.message);  // Not thrown
}

Configuration:

• comma: true
• arrayLimit: 5
• throwOnLimitExceeded: true

Expected: Throws "Array limit exceeded" error.
Actual: Parses successfully, creating an array of length 26.

Impact

Denial of Service (DoS) via memory exhaustion.

Suggested Fix

Move the arrayLimit check before the comma split in parseArrayValue, and enforce it on the resulting array length. Use currentArrayLength (already calculated upstream) for consistency with bracket notation fixes.

Current code (lib/parse.js: lines ~40-50):

if (val && typeof val === 'string' && options.comma && val.indexOf(',') > -1) {
    return val.split(',');
}

if (options.throwOnLimitExceeded && currentArrayLength >= options.arrayLimit) {
    throw new RangeError('Array limit exceeded. Only ' + options.arrayLimit + ' element' + (options.arrayLimit === 1 ? '' : 's') + ' allowed in an array.');
}

return val;

Fixed code:

if (val && typeof val === 'string' && options.comma && val.indexOf(',') > -1) {
    const splitArray = val.split(',');
    if (splitArray.length > options.arrayLimit - currentArrayLength) {  // Check against remaining limit
        if (options.throwOnLimitExceeded) {
            throw new RangeError('Array limit exceeded. Only ' + options.arrayLimit + ' element' + (options.arrayLimit === 1 ? '' : 's') + ' allowed in an array.');
        } else {
            // Optionally convert to object or truncate, per README
            return splitArray.slice(0, options.arrayLimit - currentArrayLength);
        }
    }
    return splitArray;
}

if (options.throwOnLimitExceeded && currentArrayLength >= options.arrayLimit) {
    throw new RangeError('Array limit exceeded. Only ' + options.arrayLimit + ' element' + (options.arrayLimit === 1 ? '' : 's') + ' allowed in an array.');
}

return val;

This aligns behavior with indexed and bracket notations, reuses currentArrayLength, and respects throwOnLimitExceeded. Update README to note the consistent enforcement.

---

Release Notes

ljharb/qs (qs@<6.14.1)

v6.15.0

Compare Source

• [New] parse: add strictMerge option to wrap object/primitive conflicts in an array (#​425, #​122)
• [Fix] duplicates option should not apply to bracket notation keys (#​514)

v6.14.2

Compare Source

• [Fix] parse: mark overflow objects for indexed notation exceeding arrayLimit (#​546)
• [Fix] arrayLimit means max count, not max index, in combine/merge/parseArrayValue
• [Fix] parse: throw on arrayLimit exceeded with indexed notation when throwOnLimitExceeded is true (#​529)
• [Fix] parse: enforce arrayLimit on comma-parsed values
• [Fix] parse: fix error message to reflect arrayLimit as max index; remove extraneous comments (#​545)
• [Robustness] avoid .push, use void
• [readme] document that addQueryPrefix does not add ? to empty output (#​418)
• [readme] clarify parseArrays and arrayLimit documentation (#​543)
• [readme] replace runkit CI badge with shields.io check-runs badge
• [meta] fix changelog typo (arrayLength → arrayLimit)
• [actions] fix rebase workflow permissions

---

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🚀 Performance Test Results

Test Configuration:

• VUs: 4
• Duration: 1m0s

Test Metrics:

• Requests/s: 42.65
• Iterations/s: 14.22
• Failed Requests: 0.00% (0 of 2567)

📜 Logs

> performance@1.0.0 run-tests:testenv /home/runner/work/rafiki/rafiki/test/performance
> ./scripts/run-tests.sh -e test "-k" "-q" "--vus" "4" "--duration" "1m"

Cloud Nine GraphQL API is up: http://localhost:3101/graphql
Cloud Nine Wallet Address is up: http://localhost:3100/
Happy Life Bank Address is up: http://localhost:4100/
cloud-nine-wallet-test-backend already set
cloud-nine-wallet-test-auth already set
happy-life-bank-test-backend already set
happy-life-bank-test-auth already set
     data_received..................: 926 kB 15 kB/s
     data_sent......................: 2.0 MB 33 kB/s
     http_req_blocked...............: avg=7.22µs   min=2.3µs    med=5.36µs   max=1.56ms   p(90)=6.53µs   p(95)=7.25µs  
     http_req_connecting............: avg=944ns    min=0s       med=0s       max=1.51ms   p(90)=0s       p(95)=0s      
     http_req_duration..............: avg=93.14ms  min=9.74ms   med=75.16ms  max=614.3ms  p(90)=160.1ms  p(95)=187.41ms
       { expected_response:true }...: avg=93.14ms  min=9.74ms   med=75.16ms  max=614.3ms  p(90)=160.1ms  p(95)=187.41ms
     http_req_failed................: 0.00%  ✓ 0         ✗ 2567
     http_req_receiving.............: avg=94.61µs  min=29.59µs  med=78.3µs   max=3.05ms   p(90)=117.6µs  p(95)=158.53µs
     http_req_sending...............: avg=36.02µs  min=10.19µs  med=28.23µs  max=3.51ms   p(90)=41.26µs  p(95)=55.58µs 
     http_req_tls_handshaking.......: avg=0s       min=0s       med=0s       max=0s       p(90)=0s       p(95)=0s      
     http_req_waiting...............: avg=93.01ms  min=9.6ms    med=75.08ms  max=614.21ms p(90)=159.98ms p(95)=187.31ms
     http_reqs......................: 2567   42.650187/s
     iteration_duration.............: avg=280.95ms min=194.36ms med=264.38ms max=1.15s    p(90)=344.2ms  p(95)=372.49ms
     iterations.....................: 856    14.222267/s
     vus............................: 4      min=4       max=4 
     vus_max........................: 4      min=4       max=4