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CVE-2025-54364

Withdrawn Advisory: Microsoft Knack ReDoS Vulnerability in the Introspection Module

6.9 Medium

Microsoft Knack 0.12.0 allows Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in the knack.introspection module. option_descriptions employs an inefficient regular expression pattern: "\s(:param)\s+(.+?)\s:(.*)" that is susceptible to catastrophic backtracking when processing crafted docstrings containing a large volume of whitespace without a terminating colon. An attacker who can control or inject docstring content into affected applications can trigger excessive CPU consumption. This software is used by Azure CLI.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

0.36%Up 0.2 points since Aug 20, 2025
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 6.9

Microsoft Knack 0.12.0 allows Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in the knack.introspection module. option_descriptions employs an inefficient regular expression pattern: "\s(:param)\s+(.+?)\s:(.*)" that is susceptible to catastrophic backtracking when processing crafted docstrings containing a large volume of whitespace without a terminating colon. An attacker who can control or inject docstring content into affected applications can trigger excessive CPU consumption. This software is used by Azure CLI.

Record
CVE-2025-54364
CVSS 4.0
6.9 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weakness
CWE-1333
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2025-25267 6.9

Microsoft Knack 0.12.0 allows Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in the knack.introspection module. option_descriptions employs an inefficient regular expression pattern: "\s(:param)\s+(.+?)\s:(.*)" that is susceptible to catastrophic backtracking when processing crafted docstrings containing a large volume of whitespace without a terminating colon. An attacker who can control or inject docstring content into affected applications can trigger excessive CPU consumption. This software is used by Azure CLI.

Record
EUVD-2025-25267
CVSS 4.0
6.9 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Updated
2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-xh9h-692f-mmg4 1.2

Withdrawn Advisory: Microsoft Knack ReDoS Vulnerability in the Introspection Module

Withdrawn Advisory

This advisory has been withdrawn because the attack surface of this vulnerability is outside of Knack's intended functionality. The maintainer states the following:

These CVEs are invalid. Knack is a CLI framework used by Azure CLI. It's a local library, not a web service. In addition, the regex is used to extract function and parameter docstrings from the source code. It is not used to match user input. Therefore, it does not expose any attack surface. There is no way to use it for ReDoS attack.

This link is maintained to preserve external references.

Original Description

Microsoft Knack 0.12.0 allows Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in the knack.introspection module (issue 2 of 2).

Record
GHSA-xh9h-692f-mmg4
CVSS 4.0
1.2 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U
Weakness
CWE-1333
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 6.9

Microsoft Knack 0.12.0 allows Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in the knack.introspection module. option_descriptions employs an inefficient regular expression pattern: "\s(:param)\s+(.+?)\s:(.*)" that is susceptible to catastrophic backtracking when processing crafted docstrings containing a large volume of whitespace without a terminating colon. An attacker who can control or inject docstring content into affected applications can trigger excessive CPU consumption. This software is used by Azure CLI.

Record
CVE-2025-54364
CVSS 4.0
6.9 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Weakness
CWE-1333
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 6.9

Microsoft Knack 0.12.0 allows Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in the knack.introspection module. option_descriptions employs an inefficient regular expression pattern: "\s(:param)\s+(.+?)\s:(.*)" that is susceptible to catastrophic backtracking when processing crafted docstrings containing a large volume of whitespace without a terminating colon. An attacker who can control or inject docstring content into affected applications can trigger excessive CPU consumption. This software is used by Azure CLI.

Record
CVE-2025-54364
CVSS 4.0
6.9 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weakness
CWE-1333
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2025-54364 6.9

Microsoft Knack 0.12.0 allows Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in the knack.introspection module. option_descriptions employs an inefficient regular expression pattern: "\s(:param)\s+(.+?)\s:(.*)" that is susceptible to catastrophic backtracking when processing crafted docstrings containing a large volume of whitespace without a terminating colon. An attacker who can control or inject docstring content into affected applications can trigger excessive CPU consumption. This software is used by Azure CLI.

Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2025-54364
CVSS 4.0
6.9 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-xh9h-692f-mmg4 1.2

Withdrawn Advisory: Microsoft Knack ReDoS Vulnerability in the Introspection Module

Withdrawn Advisory

This advisory has been withdrawn because the attack surface of this vulnerability is outside of Knack's intended functionality. The maintainer states the following:

These CVEs are invalid. Knack is a CLI framework used by Azure CLI. It's a local library, not a web service. In addition, the regex is used to extract function and parameter docstrings from the source code. It is not used to match user input. Therefore, it does not expose any attack surface. There is no way to use it for ReDoS attack.

This link is maintained to preserve external references.

Original Description

Microsoft Knack 0.12.0 allows Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in the knack.introspection module (issue 2 of 2).

Record
GHSA-xh9h-692f-mmg4
CVSS 4.0
1.2 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U
Weakness
CWE-1333
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2025-54364 6.9

Microsoft Knack 0.12.0 allows Regular expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in the knack.introspection module. option_descriptions employs an inefficient regular expression pattern: "\s(:param)\s+(.+?)\s:(.*)" that is susceptible to catastrophic backtracking when processing crafted docstrings containing a large volume of whitespace without a terminating colon. An attacker who can control or inject docstring content into affected applications can trigger excessive CPU consumption. This software is used by Azure CLI.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2025-54364
CVSS 4.0
6.9 MediumCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
knack
Debian:12
All versions, plus listed versions
0.10.1-10.11.0-10.11.0-1~bpo12+10.12.0-10.12.0-1~bpo12+10.12.0-20.13.0-10.14.0-1
None known
knack
Debian:13
All versions, plus listed versions
0.12.0-20.13.0-10.14.0-1
None known
knack
Debian:14
All versions, plus listed versions
0.12.0-20.13.0-10.14.0-1
None known
knack
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.6.2-1ubuntu10.6.3-1ubuntu10.6.3-2~build10.6.3-2
None known
knack
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.8.0~rc2-10.9.0-1
None known
knack
Ubuntu:24.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.11.0-1
None known
knack
Ubuntu:25.10
All versions, plus listed versions
0.12.0-2
None known
knack
Ubuntu:26.10
All versions, plus listed versions
0.13.0-10.14.0-1
None known
knack
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.12.0-20.13.0-1
None known

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
affected
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2025-54364 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.9) in Microsoft Knack, published August 20, 2025. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.36%, the 29th percentile. No source names a fixed version.

References

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