GHSA-4fcp-jxh7-23x8 Dasel has unbounded YAML alias expansion in dasel leads to CPU/memory denial of service
Summary`dasel`'s YAML reader allows an attacker who can supply YAML for processing to trigger extreme CPU and memory consumption. The issue is in the library's own `UnmarshalYAML` implementation, which manually resolves alias nodes by recursively following `yaml.Node.Alias` pointers without any expansion budget, bypassing go-yaml v4's built-in alias expansion limit.The issue issue is on `v3.3.1` (`fba653c7f248aff10f2b89fca93929b64707dfc8`) and on the current default branch at commit `0dd6132e0c58edbd9b1a5f7ffd00dfab1e6085ad`. It is also verified the same code path is present in `v3.0.0` (`648f83baf070d9e00db8ff312febef857ec090a3`). A 342-byte payload did not complete within 5 seconds on the test system and exhibited unbounded resource growth.DetailsIn `v3.3.1` (`fba653c7f248aff10f2b89fca93929b64707dfc8`), the reachable call path is:The YAML reader is registered in [`parsing/yaml/yaml.go`](https://github.com/TomWright/dasel/blob/fba653c7f248aff10f2b89fca93929b64707dfc8/parsing/yaml/yaml.go) and exposed via `parsing.Format("yaml").NewReader()``(*yamlReader).Read` in [`parsing/yaml/yaml_reader.go#L23-L48`](https://github.com/TomWright/dasel/blob/fba653c7f248aff10f2b89fca93929b64707dfc8/parsing/yaml/yaml_reader.go#L23-L48) uses `yaml.NewDecoder` to decode the input. Because `yamlValue` implements `UnmarshalYAML(*yaml.Node)`, the decoder passes the raw `*yaml.Node` tree to that custom unmarshaler`(*yamlValue).UnmarshalYAML` in [`parsing/yaml/yaml_reader.go#L57-L131`](https://github.com/TomWright/dasel/blob/fba653c7f248aff10f2b89fca93929b64707dfc8/parsing/yaml/yaml_reader.go#L57-L131) walks the Node treeWhen an `AliasNode` is encountered, the handler at [`parsing/yaml/yaml_reader.go#L119-L126`](https://github.com/TomWright/dasel/blob/fba653c7f248aff10f2b89fca93929b64707dfc8/parsing/yaml/yaml_reader.go#L119-L126) recursively calls `newVal.UnmarshalYAML(value.Alias)` without tracking expansion countThe root cause is that go-yaml v4 has two decoding paths:**`Unmarshal` into Go values**: Tracks alias expansion count and rejects documents with excessive aliasing (`"yaml: document contains excessive aliasing"`).**`Decode` into `yaml.Node` / custom `UnmarshalYAML`**: Passes a compact Node tree where alias nodes are pointers to their anchors. No expansion occurs at this level.Dasel receives the compact Node tree via its `UnmarshalYAML(*yaml.Node)` hook and then recursively follows `value.Alias` pointers, re-expanding aliases without a budget:With a 9-level alias bomb (each level referencing the previous 9 times), this produces hundreds of millions of recursive expansions from a 342-byte input.Test environment:MacBook Air (Apple M2), macOS / Darwin `arm64`Go `1.26.1`dasel `v3.3.1` (`fba653c7f248aff10f2b89fca93929b64707dfc8`)go.yaml.in/yaml/v4 `v4.0.0-rc.3`PoCObserved output on `v3.3.1` in the test environment above:ImpactAn attacker who can supply YAML for processing by dasel can cause denial of service. The library's own `UnmarshalYAML` handler triggers unbounded recursive alias expansion from a 342-byte input. The process consumes 100% CPU and exhibits growing memory usage until externally terminated.This affects:CLI usage: when reading YAML from stdin or files via the CLILibrary usage: any application using dasel's YAML reader to parse untrusted YAMLThe `parse("yaml", ...)` function in selectorsSuggested FixOne likely fix is to add an alias expansion counter to `UnmarshalYAML` that limits the total number of alias resolutions, similar to go-yaml v4's internal limit. For example, track a counter across all recursive calls and return an error when it exceeds a threshold (e.g., 1,000,000 expansions).
CVSS v3.1 score: 6.2