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fix: remove exponential backtracking in 933160/933161 comment suffix#4666

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fix/933161-redos-suffix
Jun 18, 2026
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fix: remove exponential backtracking in 933160/933161 comment suffix#4666
theseion merged 3 commits into
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fix/933161-redos-suffix

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@fzipi

@fzipi fzipi commented Jun 15, 2026

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what

  • de-ambiguate the whitespace/comment suffix in the PHP function-call rules 933160 and 933161 to remove exponential backtracking on backtracking regex engines
  • block comments now use the unrolled form instead of /\*.*\*/
  • line comments (#, //) must terminate at a line break
  • expand the 933161 test file from 4 to 14 active tests (comment/whitespace evasions plus negatives)

why

  • the suffix matched optional whitespace and PHP comments between a function name and the opening ( with an ambiguous alternation: the whitespace branch and the comment bodies could both consume the same characters under a * quantifier. an input that never reaches ( can then backtrack exponentially.
  • RE2 (Coraza) is not affected, and PCRE2's required-literal optimization tames the live case, but the pattern is structurally fragile. de-ambiguating the alternation removes the issue without relying on engine-specific optimizations, and keeps everything RE2-compatible (no atomic groups).
  • the line-comment change is also more correct: a # or // comment placed before ( is only reachable across a newline; without a newline the ( is inside the comment and there is no function call. one resulting behavior change: func#x() on a single line no longer matches (it is not an executable call).

verification: flat (sub-millisecond at n=4000) on both Python re and PCRE2 (grep -P) under DOTALL; all 933161 (14) and full REQUEST-933 (412) go-ftw tests pass on a freshly reloaded engine; crs-linter clean; .ra format check clean.

refs

ai disclosure

  • tools used: Claude (Opus 4.8)
  • assisted with: regex de-ambiguation design for the comment/whitespace suffix, .ra edits, regeneration via crs-toolchain, test scaffolding for 933161, PR description drafting
  • review performed: confirmed the original suffix is exponential and the new one is flat (sub-ms at n=4000) on Python re and PCRE2 grep -P, both under DOTALL to match ModSecurity's engine behavior; verified functional parity of all legitimate evasions and negatives; ran the full REQUEST-933 go-ftw suite (412/412) on a freshly reloaded container after confirming a stale-container false pass; ran crs-linter v1.0.0 (exit 0, no errors) and crs-toolchain regex format --check

@fzipi
fzipi requested a review from theseion June 15, 2026 15:14
@github-actions

github-actions Bot commented Jun 15, 2026

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📊 Quantitative test results for language: eng, year: 2023, size: 10K, paranoia level: 1:
🚀 Quantitative testing did not detect new false positives

The suffix that skips whitespace and PHP comments between a function name
and the opening parenthesis used an ambiguous alternation where the
whitespace branch and the comment bodies both matched the same characters
under a `*` quantifier. On a backtracking engine a payload that never
reaches `(` backtracks exponentially.

De-ambiguate the alternation while keeping RE2 compatibility (no atomic
groups):
- block comments use the unrolled form instead of `/\*.*\*/`
- line comments (`#`, `//`) must terminate at a line break, because a line
  comment before `(` is only reachable across a newline; otherwise the `(`
  is inside the comment and there is no function call

Add positive tests for the comment/whitespace evasions (block, line with
newline, multi-line block, vertical tab, mixed) and negatives to 933161.
Comment thread regex-assembly/933160.ra
Comment thread regex-assembly/933161.ra Outdated
@fzipi

fzipi commented Jun 16, 2026

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We might want to add this to the LTS 🤔 ?

@fzipi
fzipi requested a review from theseion June 16, 2026 14:13
@HackingRepo

HackingRepo commented Jun 16, 2026

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yes, fzipi, because that is a ReDos Fix, and needs be backported to LTS, and can be exploitable by an attacker

Comment thread regex-assembly/933161.ra Outdated
@theseion theseion added the backport:lts-4.25.1 PR that must be backported to LTS release 4.25.1 label Jun 17, 2026
@fzipi
fzipi requested a review from theseion June 17, 2026 16:05
@theseion
theseion added this pull request to the merge queue Jun 18, 2026
Merged via the queue into main with commit c1df902 Jun 18, 2026
8 checks passed
@theseion
theseion deleted the fix/933161-redos-suffix branch June 18, 2026 05:39
@fzipi fzipi mentioned this pull request Jul 1, 2026
fzipi added a commit that referenced this pull request Jul 2, 2026
* fix: false positive with parameter name `.history` (#4614)

(cherry picked from commit 0885958)

* fix(942200): reduce false positives on payloads with comments (#4608)

* fix(942200): reduce false positives on payloads with comments

* add known fp test case

* improve test comments

* fix: wrong test

* add known fp test case

* fix typo

* fix typo

(cherry picked from commit 2c64b25)

* fix(unix): exclude `pg` command from pl-1 (#4613)

(cherry picked from commit 82195a4)

* fix(920100): drop HTTP/0.9 GET support from request line validation (#4621)

* fix(920100): drop HTTP/0.9 GET support from request line validation

remove the GET-without-protocol alternative from the regex assembly.
HTTP/0.9 is obsolete per RFC 9110 and the dedicated alternative was
the only one that did not require a protocol suffix in the request
line. GET requests with proper HTTP/1.x or HTTP/2 protocol versions
remain covered by the generic method alternative.

* Apply suggestions from code review

Co-authored-by: Max Leske <[email protected]>

---------

Co-authored-by: Max Leske <[email protected]>
(cherry picked from commit f8402a9)

* fix(920240, 920400): don't rely on content-type header (#4639)

(cherry picked from commit 2f1afb7)

* fix: remove exponential backtracking in 933160/933161 comment suffix (#4666)

* fix: remove exponential backtracking in 933160/933161 comment suffix

The suffix that skips whitespace and PHP comments between a function name
and the opening parenthesis used an ambiguous alternation where the
whitespace branch and the comment bodies both matched the same characters
under a `*` quantifier. On a backtracking engine a payload that never
reaches `(` backtracks exponentially.

De-ambiguate the alternation while keeping RE2 compatibility (no atomic
groups):
- block comments use the unrolled form instead of `/\*.*\*/`
- line comments (`#`, `//`) must terminate at a line break, because a line
  comment before `(` is only reachable across a newline; otherwise the `(`
  is inside the comment and there is no function call

Add positive tests for the comment/whitespace evasions (block, line with
newline, multi-line block, vertical tab, mixed) and negatives to 933161.

* docs: explain unrolled comment form in 933160/933161 .ra

* Update regex-assembly/933161.ra

Co-authored-by: Max Leske <[email protected]>

---------

Co-authored-by: Max Leske <[email protected]>
(cherry picked from commit c1df902)

* fix(941140): remove exponential backtracking in CSS url(javascript) detection (#4670)

* fix(941140): bound CSS declaration value to remove exponential backtracking

Move the inline pattern to regex-assembly/941140.ra and replace the free
'.+' in the declaration list with '[^;]+', removing the ambiguity that
caused exponential backtracking on backtracking engines (PCRE2/RE2 were
unaffected). Detection is unchanged (differential-tested).

* docs(941140): clarify whitespace handling and regression-test intent

Address review feedback on #4670:
- note that t:removeWhitespace strips whitespace before the regex runs, so
  the character classes intentionally do not account for it
- reword test_id 13 desc: it is a no-match canary for the unbounded-value
  shape (PCRE2 tames both old and new patterns), not a latency assertion

(cherry picked from commit fe59387)

* fix(933180): remove exponential backtracking in variable-function noise suffix (#4669)

* fix(933180): remove exponential backtracking in variable-function noise suffix

* fix(933180): require non-empty array/brace bodies in noise suffix

Address review on #4669: use + instead of * for the array-access and
curly-brace noise branches so empty [] / {} are not matched. This
restores the non-empty semantics of the original .+ patterns; the *
form had accidentally broadened them. Differential vs the original rule
shows zero true-positive loss; REQUEST-933 416/416 pass.

* test(933180): verify empty array/brace bodies are not matched

(cherry picked from commit 3828246)

* feat(crs-setup): add default actions for phases 3-5 (#4675)

(cherry picked from commit 09c1a11)

* fix: 4RI-250413 (#4672)

* fix: 4RI-250413

* fix: tests

* chore(formatting): auto fixes from pre-commit hooks

for more information, see https://pre-commit.ci

* fix: typo

* fix: tests

* apply code review suggestions

* apply code review suggestions

* chore(formatting): auto fixes from pre-commit hooks

for more information, see https://pre-commit.ci

* chore(942360): update regex with better format

Signed-off-by: Felipe Zipitria <[email protected]>

* fix(942362): add json. prefix support for JSON ARGS_NAMES

Rule 942362 uses a ^[\W\d]+ anchor that silently fails on libModSecurity3
because JSON payloads prepend json. (starting with j, a letter) to ARGS_NAMES.
Apply the same fix used in 942360/942361: ^(?:json\.)?[\W\d]+.

* Apply suggestions from code review

Co-authored-by: Max Leske <[email protected]>

* apply code review suggestions

* Update regex-assembly/942360.ra

Co-authored-by: Max Leske <[email protected]>

---------

Signed-off-by: Felipe Zipitria <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: pre-commit-ci[bot] <66853113+pre-commit-ci[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Felipe Zipitria <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Max Leske <[email protected]>
(cherry picked from commit 6e9ff3c)

* chore: release v4.25.1

* fix: correct indentation and action order in commented 900510 example

* docs: note libmodsecurity v3.0.16 requirement in CHANGES

* chore(tests): bump modsecurity-crs nginx image to libmodsecurity v3.0.16

* fix(901180): split XML attribute inspection gate to fix unused TX variable lint error

* fix: renumber duplicated test

Signed-off-by: Felipe Zipitria <[email protected]>

* fix: restore dropped json. prefix fixes and fix stale nginx CONNECT override

Cherry-picking PR #4672 (4RI-250413) took the LTS side wholesale for
rules/REQUEST-932-APPLICATION-ATTACK-RCE.conf and
rules/REQUEST-942-APPLICATION-ATTACK-SQLI.conf, then only regenerated
the rule IDs backed by a regex-assembly (.ra) file. Two hand-written
inline regexes with no .ra file (932171, 942361) were silently dropped
in that process and never got the `(?:json\.)?` ARGS_NAMES prefix fix,
so 942361-9 failed to detect the SQLi payload on nginx/libmodsecurity3.

Also updates the nginx-overrides.yaml entry for 920100 test 4: the
libmodsecurity v3.0.16 image bump also picked up nginx 1.30.3 (up from
1.28.2), which now rejects CONNECT with 405 instead of 400.

* docs: note ModSecurity v2 limitation for XML attribute opt-out in CHANGES

---------

Signed-off-by: Felipe Zipitria <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Esad Cetiner <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Max Leske <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Prateek saini <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: pre-commit-ci[bot] <66853113+pre-commit-ci[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
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