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HighVulnerabilityCVE-2026-116693updated 27 Oct 2026, 21:18 UTC

Datadog Node.js tracing library can be made to slow down or freeze apps via crafted URLs

A crafted web request can make the monitoring library inside a Node.js app use a lot of CPU while it inspects the URL. This can make the app slow or unresponsive for everyone.

Fix availableOfficial, 2 sources
SeverityHighCVSS 8.7 of 10
Being exploited?UnclearNo reports either way yet
Fix available?Yesnpm dd-trace 5.131.1 and 6.20.1 (and later) · since 27 Oct 2026
How sure is this?Official, 2 sourcesBacked by an official source

How the attack works simplified

  1. 1AttackerSends a request with a crafted query string
  2. 2Internet requestRequest reaches the public web application
  3. 3dd-trace regexQuery string runs through the obfuscation pattern synchronously
  4. 4CPU exhaustedExcessive backtracking stalls request processing
  5. ResultApplication becomes slow or unavailable

What happened

The default regular expression that hides sensitive values in URL query strings in dd-trace suffers from excessive regex backtracking (ReDoS), and it runs synchronously while HTTP URL metadata is recorded.

Why it is dangerous: An attacker can send requests with specially built query strings to stall request processing and make the instrumented application unavailable. Any service running an affected dd-trace version with HTTP tracing enabled is at risk.

Are you affected?

You are affected if you run the npm package dd-trace in the 2.0.0 to below 5.131.1 range, or the 6.0.0 to below 6.20.1 range, with HTTP tracing enabled (the default) so that query strings are recorded in URL span tags.

Package / productAffected versionsFixed in
dd-trace · npm>= 2.0.0, < 5.131.15.131.1
dd-trace · npm>= 6.0.0, < 6.20.16.20.1

What to do

  1. Update dd-trace to 5.131.1 (if on the 5.x line) or 6.20.1 (if on the 6.x line) or later
  2. If you cannot update right away, set DD_TRACE_OBFUSCATION_QUERY_STRING_REGEXP to the fixed regex from the advisory and restart the application
  3. Restart the application after any change so the new setting takes effect

Timeline

  1. 27 Oct 2026, 21:07 UTC
    Publicly disclosed
  2. 27 Oct 2026, 21:07 UTC
    Reported by GitHub Advisory · GitHub Advisory
  3. 27 Oct 2026, 21:08 UTC
    Picked up by Zero Radar
  4. 27 Oct 2026, 21:18 UTC
    NVD reported on it · NVD

Sources 2 reports, oldest first

Official vendor, government CERT or advisory database

Technical details

ID
CVE-2026-116693 · GHSA-x94g-w73q-hpcw
CVSS
8.7 / 10
EPSS
0.4% chance of exploitation within 30 days
Disclosed
27 Oct 2026, 21:07 UTC
On Zero Radar
27 Oct 2026, 21:08 UTC (1 min after disclosure)
Last change
27 Oct 2026, 21:18 UTC

The plain-language parts and the attack diagram were written by an AI model (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5) from the sources above. Facts like versions, exploitation and dates come from the sources themselves. How Zero Radar works

Datadog Node.js tracing library can be made to slow down or freeze apps via crafted URLs · Zero Radar