# CVE-2016-1000232: tough-cookie ReDoS via semicolon strings

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2016-1000232-tough-cookie-redos-via-semicolon-strings  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2018-10-10. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2016-1000232 · Severity: low · CVSS 3 · Published 2018-10-10

tough-cookie is a Node.js library that parses and manages HTTP cookies. A vulnerability in the cookie parsing logic allows attackers to trigger a regular expression denial of service (ReDoS) attack by sending Set-Cookie headers with long strings of semicolons, causing the application to consume excessive CPU and become unresponsive.

Technologies: [tough-cookie (npm)](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/tough-cookie). Vendors: [npm](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/npm).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2016-1000232 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2016-1000232 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2016-1000232?** Low severity, with a CVSS score of 3, published 10 October 2018.

**Which products and versions are affected?** tough-cookie (npm) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=2.3.0.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2016-1000232?** Yes. tough-cookie (npm): upgrade to 2.3.0 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2016-1000232 attacked?** It is attacked over the network.

**Am I affected by CVE-2016-1000232?** Check whether you run tough-cookie (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## How to fix

- tough-cookie (npm): upgrade to 2.3.0 or later

  ```sh
  npm install tough-cookie@2.3.0
  ```


## Technical details

The vulnerability is a regular expression denial of service (ReDoS) issue in the cookie parsing logic of tough-cookie. When processing Set-Cookie headers containing long strings of semicolons, the vulnerable regular expression exhibits catastrophic backtracking, causing exponential processing time. The attack is network-reachable and requires no authentication—any attacker can craft a malicious HTTP response with a crafted Set-Cookie header. The vulnerability affects all versions prior to 2.3.0. Exploitation results in denial of service through CPU exhaustion. The fix was implemented in version 2.3.0 and later.

## Affected products

- Salesforce tough-cookie before 2.3.0

## Identifiers

- CVE-2016-1000232
- GHSA-qhv9-728r-6jqg

## Timeline

- 2018-10-10: disclosed

## References

- [https://github.com/salesforce/tough-cookie/commit/615627206357d997d5e6ff9da158997de05235ae](https://github.com/salesforce/tough-cookie/commit/615627206357d997d5e6ff9da158997de05235ae)

## Related threats

- [tough-cookie Prototype Pollution in object initialization](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2023-26136-tough-cookie-prototype-pollution-in-object-initialization)
- [tough-cookie regular expression denial of service](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2017-15010-tough-cookie-regular-expression-denial-of-service)