fast-xml-parser affected by numeric entity expansion bypassing all entity expansion limits (incomplete fix for CVE-2026-26278)
Date: 2026-03
Affected: npm/fast-xml-parser, npm/fast-xml-parser
Attack vector: dos
Category: vulnerability-disclosure
Severity: High
CVE: CVE-2026-33036
CWE: CWE-776
CVSS: 7.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

## Summary The fix for CVE-2026-26278 added entity expansion limits (`maxTotalExpansions`, `maxExpandedLength`, `maxEntityCount`, `maxEntitySize`) to prevent XML entity expansion Denial of Service. However, these limits are only enforced for DOCTYPE-defined entities. **Numeric character references** (`&#NNN;` and `&#xHH;`) and standard XML entities (`&lt;`, `&gt;`, etc.) are processed through a separate code path that does NOT enforce any expansion limits. An attacker can use massive numbers of numeric entity references to completely bypass all configured limits, causing excessive memory allocation and CPU consumption. ## Affected Versions fast-xml-parser v5.x through v5.5.3 (and likely v5.5.5 on npm) ## Root Cause In `src/xmlparser/OrderedObjParser.js`, the `replaceEntitiesValue()` function has two separate entity replacement loops: 1. **Lines 638-670**: DOCTYPE entities — expansion counting with `entityExpansionCount` and `currentExpandedLength` tracking. This was the CVE-2026-26278 fix. 2. **Lines 674-677**: `lastEntities` loop — replaces standard entities including `num_dec` (`/&#([0-9]{1,7});/g`) and `num_hex` (`/&#x([0-9a-fA-F]{1,6});/g`). **This loop has NO expansion counting at all.** The numeric entity regex replacements at lines 97-98 are part of `lastEntities` and go through the uncounted loop, completely bypassing the CVE-2026-26278 fix. ## Proof of Concept ```javascript const { XMLParser } = require('fast-xml-parser'); // Even with strict explicit limi


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