CVE-2021-36716
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedA ReDoS (regular expression denial of service) flaw was found in the Segment is-email package before 1.0.1 for Node.js. An attacker that is able to provide crafted input to the isEmail(input) function may cause an application to consume an excessive amount of CPU.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA ReDoS vulnerability exists in the is-email npm package versions before 1.0.1. The isEmail() function uses a vulnerable regular expression pattern that can cause catastrophic backtracking when processing specially crafted input strings, leading to excessive CPU consumption and denial of service.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 1.0.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Locate the is-email package installationSearch for is-email in your package.json dependencies or check node_modules/is-email/package.json for the installed versionAffected if The package version field shows a version lower than 1.0.1 (e.g., 1.0.0, 0.1.0, etc.)
-
Confirm the vulnerable version is in useRun 'npm list is-email' or 'yarn list is-email' to see the resolved version in your dependency treeAffected if The resolved version is less than 1.0.1
-
Identify code that calls isEmail()Search your codebase for imports or requires of 'is-email' and calls to isEmail() functionAffected if The function is imported and called in your application code, and the package version is vulnerable (< 1.0.1)
-
Check if untrusted input reaches isEmail()Review the data flow leading to isEmail() calls - trace where the input string originates (user input, API request, external data)Affected if The isEmail() function receives input from untrusted sources without prior length validation, and the package version is vulnerable
You are affected if the is-email package version is resolved to less than 1.0.1 in your dependencies and your code passes input strings to the isEmail() function.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data1.0.1
Upgrade the is-email package to version 1.0.1 or later via npm update. Review other Segment/Airbyte packages for similar regex vulnerabilities and implement input length limits as a defense-in-depth measure.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,376.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-36716 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-36716 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data