# Highcharts Regular Expression Denial of Service

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/highcharts-regular-expression-denial-of-service-9adf5145  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2020-08-19. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

Severity: info · Published 2020-08-19

Highcharts is a popular JavaScript charting library used to display data visualizations in web applications. A regular expression processing flaw in the SVG text rendering component could be exploited by an attacker to craft malicious input that causes excessive CPU consumption, potentially making the charting functionality unresponsive and affecting the entire web application's performance.

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

## Quick answers

**Is This vulnerability exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of This vulnerability being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is This vulnerability?** Informational severity, published 19 August 2020.

**Which products and versions are affected?** highcharts (npm) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=6.1.0.

**Is there a fix for This vulnerability?** Yes. highcharts (npm): upgrade to 6.1.0 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is This vulnerability attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected?** Check whether you run highcharts (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

- highcharts (npm): upgrade to 6.1.0 or later

  ```sh
  npm install highcharts@6.1.0
  ```


## Technical details

The vulnerability is a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) flaw in the SVGRenderer text attribute processing code. The vulnerability existed in backtracking regular expressions used to parse and replace class, href, and style attributes in SVG text strings. An attacker could provide specially crafted input containing repeated patterns that cause exponential backtracking in the regex engine, leading to denial of service. The fix, implemented in commit 7c547e1, refactored the SVG text rendering to eliminate the problematic backtracking regexes. The vulnerability was patched in version 6.1.0.

## Affected products

- Highcharts Highcharts before 6.1.0

## Timeline

- 2020-08-19: disclosed

## References

- [https://github.com/highcharts/highcharts/commit/7c547e1e0f5e4379f94396efd559a566668c0dfa](https://github.com/highcharts/highcharts/commit/7c547e1e0f5e4379f94396efd559a566668c0dfa)
- [https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/793](https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/793)

## Related threats

- [Highcharts JavaScript library cross-site scripting in credits link](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-118251-highcharts-js-is-a-javascript-charting-library-based-on-svg)
- [Highcharts JS prototype pollution via dotted series keys](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-118250-highcharts-js-is-a-javascript-charting-library-based-on-svg-from)
- [Highcharts JS prototype pollution in series data](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-118249-highcharts-js-is-a-javascript-charting-library-based-on-svg-from)
- [Highcharts JavaScript event handler injection via breadcrumbs](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-118246-highcharts-js-is-a-javascript-charting-library-based-on-svg-from)
- [Highcharts JS cross-site scripting via innerHTML fallback on print](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-118244-highcharts-js-is-a-javascript-charting-library-based-on-svg-from)