Summary
Immutabl: Hash-collision algorithmic complexity denial of service in Immutable.Map/Set
Immutable.Map and Immutable.Set keep keys that share the same 32-bit hash in a collision bucket that is scanned linearly. The string hash is public and deterministic, so an attacker who controls the keys inserted into a Map can craft many keys that all collide, degrading insertion and lookup from amortized O(1) to O(n) per operation, and O(n²) to build or read the whole set. A small, attacker-shaped payload can therefore consume disproportionate CPU and, on a single-threaded runtime such as Node.js, stall the event loop and deny service.
Details
The string hash uses the JVM-style polynomial hashed = (31 * hashed + charCode) | 0. Strings such as "Aa" and "BB" hash to the same value (65*31+97 == 66*31+66 == 2112), and concatenating such blocks yields 2^n distinct strings sharing one hash (40 characters ⇒ >1,000,000 colliding keys).
All such keys route to a single HashCollisionNode, whose get/update walk the entire bucket testing is(). There is no per-process salt, so the colliding set is fully precomputable from the open-source algorithm.
Proof of concept
Inserting N colliding keys (e.g. via Immutable.Map(obj) / Immutable.fromJS(obj)) is O(N²). Measured on one machine, ~8,000 colliding
keys take ~0.7 s to build and ~0.6 s to read, scaling ×4 per doubling; ~16,000 keys exceed several seconds.
Affected versions
All versions through 5.1.7 (the deterministic string hash and linear collision bucket have existed since the 4.x line).
Workarounds
Before passing untrusted data to Immutable.js: cap request body size, limit object key count/length, and reject high-cardinality payloads; avoid building Maps directly from untrusted object keys.
References
- CWE-407 (Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity), CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)
- OWASP API4:2023 (Unrestricted Resource Consumption)
Impact
CPU-bound denial of service in applications that ingest attacker-controlled object keys into Immutable structures, e.g. Immutable.Map(req.body), Immutable.fromJS(req.body), state.merge(userObject) / mergeDeep(...). Applications that only store attacker input as values under fixed keys are not affected.
Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service. Typical impact: denial of service.
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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Fixed in 5.1.8 (adjust to the actual release): large collision buckets are indexed by a per-process seeded secondary hash, restoring near-linear behavior for the affected paths. The public hash() is unchanged (no breaking change), and is() remains the sole authority on key equality.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-59880? CVE-2026-59880 is a high-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in immutable (npm), affecting versions < 4.3.9. It is fixed in 4.3.9, 5.1.8. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
- Which versions of immutable are affected by CVE-2026-59880? immutable (npm) versions < 4.3.9 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-59880? Yes. CVE-2026-59880 is fixed in 4.3.9, 5.1.8. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-59880 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-59880 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-2026-59880 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-2026-59880?
- Upgrade
immutableto 4.3.9 or later - Upgrade
immutableto 5.1.8 or later
- Upgrade