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vLLM has a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS, Exponential Complexity) Vulnerability in `pythonic_tool_parser.py`

Type: advisorySources: OSV

vLLM, an inference and serving engine for large language models (LLMs), has a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) vulnerability in the file `vllm/entrypoints/openai/tool_parsers/pythonic_tool_parser.py` of versions 0.6.4 up to but excluding 0.9.0. The root cause is the use of a highly complex and nested regular expression for tool call detection, which can be exploited by an attacker to cause severe performance degradation or make the service unavailable. The pattern contains multiple nested quantifiers, optional groups, and inner repetitions which make it vulnerable to catastrophic backtracking. Version 0.9.0 contains a patch for the issue.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2025-48887
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
6 Nov 2026, 09:03 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

vLLM has a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS, Exponential Complexity) Vulnerability in `pythonic_tool_parser.py`

core-osv · Original source

Published 30 May 2025, 17:36 UTC

vLLM, an inference and serving engine for large language models (LLMs), has a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) vulnerability in the file `vllm/entrypoints/openai/tool_parsers/pythonic_tool_parser.py` of versions 0.6.4 up to but excluding 0.9.0. The root cause is the use of a highly complex and nested regular expression for tool call detection, which can be exploited by an attacker to cause severe performance degradation or make the service unavailable. The pattern contains multiple nested quantifiers, optional groups, and inner repetitions which make it vulnerable to catastrophic backtracking. Version 0.9.0 contains a patch for the issue.

osv:CVE-2025-48887
Complete source record
{
  "id": "2998026077bee8b180b133609b4d5ddb561c161aee7f256cb428b0f9b2f61258",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-48887",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "vLLM has a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS, Exponential Complexity) Vulnerability in `pythonic_tool_parser.py`",
    "summary": "vLLM, an inference and serving engine for large language models (LLMs), has a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) vulnerability in the file `vllm/entrypoints/openai/tool_parsers/pythonic_tool_parser.py` of versions 0.6.4 up to but excluding 0.9.0. The root cause is the use of a highly complex and nested regular expression for tool call detection, which can be exploited by an attacker to cause severe performance degradation or make the service unavailable. The pattern contains multiple nested quantifiers, optional groups, and inner repetitions which make it vulnerable to catastrophic backtracking. Version 0.9.0 contains a patch for the issue.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2025-48887",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2025-48887",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2025-48887",
        "GHSA-w6q7-j642-7c25",
        "PYSEC-2025-50"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
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              "repo": "https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
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                  "fixed": "58738772410c5e0d60b61db39538a9b313d2d7ad"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "4fc1bf813ad80172c1db31264beaef7d93fe0601"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:vllm:vllm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0.6.4"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "0.9.0"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "4fc1bf813ad80172c1db31264beaef7d93fe0601"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
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            "v0.8.3rc1",
            "v0.8.2",
            "v0.8.1",
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            "v0.7.3",
            "v0.7.2",
            "v0.7.1",
            "v0.7.0",
            "v0.6.6.post1",
            "v0.6.6",
            "v0.6.5",
            "v0.6.4.post1",
            "v0.6.4"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2025-48887.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:47.117741169Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2025/48xxx/CVE-2025-48887.json",
        "https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/security/advisories/GHSA-w6q7-j642-7c25",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-48887",
        "https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/commit/4fc1bf813ad80172c1db31264beaef7d93fe0601",
        "https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/pull/18454"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-1333"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2025/48xxx/CVE-2025-48887.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2025-48887",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 515045,
  "published_at": "2025-05-30T17:36:16.716+00:00"
}