Summary
Apache Traffic Control has an Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity vulnerability
*** UNSUPPORTED WHEN ASSIGNED ***
Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity vulnerability in Apache Traffic Control.
This issue affects Apache Traffic Control: all versions.
People with access to the management interface of the Traffic Router component could specify malicious patterns and cause unavailability.
As this project is retired, it is not planned to release a version that fixes this issue. Users are recommended to find an alternative or restrict access to the instance to trusted users.
NOTE: This vulnerability only affects products that are no longer supported by the maintainer.
Impact
A regular expression with worst-case exponential or polynomial matching time is applied to untrusted input, causing excessive CPU use. Typical impact: denial of service when input is crafted to trigger backtracking.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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In the interim: Rewrite the regular expression to avoid ambiguous repetition, or use a linear-time regex engine.
Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2025-61581? CVE-2025-61581 is a low-severity inefficient regular expression (ReDoS) vulnerability in github.com/apache/trafficcontrol/v8 (go), affecting versions <= 8.0.2. No fixed version is listed yet. A regular expression with worst-case exponential or polynomial matching time is applied to untrusted input, causing excessive CPU use.
- Which versions of github.com/apache/trafficcontrol/v8 are affected by CVE-2025-61581? github.com/apache/trafficcontrol/v8 (go) versions <= 8.0.2 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2025-61581? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2025-61581 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
- Is CVE-2025-61581 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-61581 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2025-61581 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2025-61581? No fixed version is listed yet. In the interim: Rewrite the regular expression to avoid ambiguous repetition, or use a linear-time regex engine.