Denial of Service in @hapi/subtext

@hapi/subtext Updated 02 Oct 2025

Summary

03/09/2020

Disclosed on

HIGH

Severity

Yes i

Fix available

High

Severity

Not published

CVSS Score

GHSA-3wqh-h42r-x8fq: Denial of Service in @hapi/subtext. Affects @hapi/subtext across 2 version ranges.

>= 6.1.0, < 6.1.3 >= 7.0.0, < 7.0.3

Fixed in 6.1.3 or 7.0.3, depending on the release line you run. How to fix ↓

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Background

The @hapi/subtext package is a part of the hapi ecosystem and is used for handling content encoding in HTTP headers. It provides functionality for parsing and decoding content encoding headers. However, versions prior to 6.1.3 or 7.0.3 are vulnerable to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack.

Vulnerability Detail

The vulnerability in @hapi/subtext is related to the Content-Encoding HTTP header parser. If the header contains certain invalid values, the function responsible for parsing the header will throw a system error. Since hapi rethrows system errors instead of catching them, the error propagates up the stack. If there is no unhandled exception handler available, the application will exit, allowing an attacker to shut down services. This vulnerability can be exploited to cause a DoS attack on the affected application.

How To Fix

Latest published version: 8.1.4 as of 23 Oct 2026

npm install @hapi/subtext@8.1.4

Upgrading to it may include breaking changes; the versions below are the minimum fixed release for this vulnerability.

If you can't move to the latest

The minimum fixed version depends on the release line you run.

>= 6.1.0, < 6.1.3 6.1.3
```
npm install @hapi/subtext@6.1.3
```
>= 7.0.0, < 7.0.3 7.0.3
```
npm install @hapi/subtext@7.0.3
```

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Workaround

There is no known workaround for this vulnerability. It is essential to upgrade to the fixed versions of the package.

Conclusion

The @hapi/subtext package is vulnerable to a DoS attack due to a flaw in the Content-Encoding HTTP header parser. Upgrading to version 6.1.3 or 7.0.3 of the package is recommended to mitigate this vulnerability. For further support on vulnerability remediation, please contact DevNack.com.

See every vulnerability recorded for @hapi/subtext →