vLLM: ReDoS via structured_outputs.regex compiled without timeout in xgrammar and outlines backends
## Summary The `structured_outputs.regex` API parameter passes a user-supplied regex string directly to grammar compiler backends with no compilation timeout. In the xgrammar backend, the string reaches `compile_regex()` with no guard. In the outlines backend, `validate_regex_is_buildable()` blocks structural issues (lookarounds, backreferences) but provides zero protection against exponential DFA state-space explosion. Patterns like `(a+)+b` pass all checks and hang the inference worker. ## Root Cause `backend_xgrammar.py:91` — no timeout: ```python ctx = self.compiler.compile_regex(grammar_spec) ``` `backend_outlines.py:299–330` — structural checks only, no complexity analysis: ```python def validate_regex_is_buildable(regex: str) -> None: sre_parse.parse(regex) # AST parse only — does not detect exponential patterns _check_unsupported(...) # blocks lookarounds/backrefs, not nested quantifiers ``` `backend_outlines.py:64` — no timeout: ```python oc.Index(regex_string, vocabulary.inner) ``` ## Impact Denial of service — one request with an adversarial regex pattern hangs an inference worker indefinitely. ## Remediation Wrap `compile_regex()` and `oc.Index()` calls in a thread with a deadline (e.g., 5 seconds). Add complexity analysis to `validate_regex_is_buildable()` to detect nested quantifier patterns before compilation.
describes (1)
Related CVEs.
| ID | severity | exploitable | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-55574US | high7.5 | — | ||
vLLM is a high-throughput and memory-efficient inference and serving engine for LLMs. Prior to 0.24.0, the structured_outputs.regex API parameter passes a user-supplied regular exp… | ||||
references
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/vllm/PYSEC-2026-2304.yamlWEB
- https://github.com/vllm-project/vllmPACKAGE
- https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/commit/2b3006076c5e9bc4cda9e03e3641388de3c5c286WEB
- https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/pull/45118WEB
- https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/security/advisories/GHSA-rwxx-mrjm-wc2mWEB
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-55574ADVISORY
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