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Medium · 5.3 CVE-2026-8723 EUVD-2026-30674GHSA-q8mj-m7cp-5q26

qs.stringify crashes on null/undefined entries in comma-format arrays under encodeValuesOnly

Published May 16, 2026 · Updated May 18, 2026 · Assigned by harborist

Vendor: ljharb Product: qs Package: argo-workflows-ui-4.0 Package: code-server Package: js-jquery Package: json-server Package: jupyter-base-notebook Package: katib-earlystopping Package: katib-suggestion-goptuna-compat Package: katib-suggestion-hyperband Package: katib-suggestion-hyperopt Package: katib-suggestion-nas-darts Package: katib-suggestion-nas-enas Package: katib-suggestion-optuna-enas Package: katib-suggestion-pbt-enas Package: katib-suggestion-skopt-enas Package: katib-tfevent-metricscollector Package: kubeflow-centraldashboard Package: kubeflow-pipelines-frontend Package: langfuse-3 Package: langfuse-3-worker Package: node-qs Package: node-qs Package: nodejs-nodemon Package: opensearch-dashboards-3 Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-alerting-dashboards-plugin Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-anomaly-detection-dashboards-plugin Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-dashboards-maps Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-dashboards-notifications Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-dashboards-observability Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-dashboards-query-workbench Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-dashboards-reporting Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-dashboards-search-relevance Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-index-management-dashboards-plugin Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-ml-commons-dashboards Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-security-analytics-dashboards-plugin Package: opensearch-dashboards-3-security-dashboards-plugin Package: prism Package: py3.10-jupyterlab Package: py3.11-jupyterlab Package: py3.12-jupyterlab Package: py3.13-jupyterlab Package: qs Package: renovate Package: saf Package: sqlpad Package: thingsboard-tb-js-executor Package: thingsboard-tb-web-ui Package: tileserver-gl Ecosystem: Azure Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: npm Ecosystem: Ubuntu Ecosystem: Wolfi

Description

### Summary

`qs.stringify` throws `TypeError` when called with `arrayFormat: 'comma'` and `encodeValuesOnly: true` on an array containing `null` or `undefined`. The throw is synchronous and not handled by any of qs's null-related options (`skipNulls`, `strictNullHandling`).

### Details

In the comma + `encodeValuesOnly` branch, `lib/stringify.js:145` mapped the array through the raw encoder before joining:

```js

obj = utils.maybeMap(obj, encoder);

```

`utils.encode` (`lib/utils.js:195`) reads `str.length` with no null guard, so a `null` or `undefined` element throws `TypeError`. `skipNulls` and `strictNullHandling` are both checked in the per-element loop below this line and never get a chance to run.

Same class of bug as the filter-array path fixed in 0c180a4. The vulnerable shape of the comma + `encodeValuesOnly` branch was introduced in 4c4b23d ("encode comma values more consistently", PR #463, 2023-01-19), first released in v6.11.1.

#### PoC

```js

const qs = require('qs');

qs.stringify({ a: [null, 'b'] }, { arrayFormat: 'comma', encodeValuesOnly: true });

qs.stringify({ a: [undefined, 'b'] }, { arrayFormat: 'comma', encodeValuesOnly: true });

qs.stringify({ a: [null] }, { arrayFormat: 'comma', encodeValuesOnly: true });

// TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'length')

// at encode (lib/utils.js:195:13)

// at Object.maybeMap (lib/utils.js:322:37)

// at stringify (lib/stringify.js:145:25)

```

#### Fix

`lib/stringify.js:145`, applied in 21f80b3 on `main` and released as v6.15.2:

```diff

- obj = utils.maybeMap(obj, encoder);

+ obj = utils.maybeMap(obj, function (v) {

+ return v == null ? v : encoder(v);

+ });

```

`null` and `undefined` now pass through `maybeMap` unchanged and reach the `join(',')` step as-is. For `{ a: [null, 'b'] }` this produces `a=,b`, matching the non-`encodeValuesOnly` comma path (which already joins before encoding and produces `a=%2Cb` for the same input). Single-element `[null]` arrays still collapse via the existing `obj.join(',') || null` and remain subject to `skipNulls` / `strictNullHandling` in the main loop.

### Affected versions

`>=6.11.1 <6.15.2` — fixed in v6.15.2.

The vulnerable code shape was introduced in 4c4b23d and first shipped in v6.11.1. Earlier versions — including all of 6.7.x, 6.8.x, 6.9.x, 6.10.x, and 6.11.0 — implemented the comma + `encodeValuesOnly` path differently (joining before encoding) and are not affected. Empirically verified across released versions.

### Impact

Application code that calls `qs.stringify` with both `arrayFormat: 'comma'` and `encodeValuesOnly: true` (both non-default) on input that may contain a `null` or `undefined` array element will throw synchronously instead of producing a query string. In a typical Node.js HTTP framework (Express, Fastify, Koa, hapi) the sync throw is caught by the framework's error boundary and the affected request returns a 500; the worker process does not exit and subsequent requests are unaffected. The "kills the worker process" framing applies only to call sites outside a request-handler error boundary (background jobs, startup paths, stream pipelines) or to deployments with framework error handling explicitly disabled.

The vulnerable input is a `null` or `undefined` entry inside an array; this is reachable from JSON request bodies or from application code constructing arrays from user input, but not from standard HTML form submissions (which produce strings or omitted fields, not literal `null`).

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
ljharb qs 6.11.1 – < 6.15.2 6.15.2

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 node-qs 6.15.2+ds+~6.15.1-1 —
Debian 13 node-qs No fix yet —
Debian 12 node-qs No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 node-qs No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS node-qs No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 node-qs No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS node-qs No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS node-qs No fix yet —
Show 4 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS node-qs No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS node-qs No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS node-qs No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS node-qs No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Red Hat Hardened Images 1 dotnet8.0 8.0.127-1.hum1 RHSA-2026:17682
Red Hat Hardened Images 1 nodejs20 +6 20.20.2-1.hum1 RHSA-2026:9455
Red Hat Hardened Images 1 nodejs20-npm 10.8.2-1.20.20.2.1.hum1 RHSA-2026:9455
Red Hat Hardened Images 1 python3.14 +13 3.14.6-1.1.hum1 RHSA-2026:38091, RHSA-2026:33521

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 3 js-jquery +1 No fix yet —

Wolfi

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Wolfi rolling argo-workflows-ui-4.0 4.0.5-r5 —
Wolfi rolling code-server 4.121.0-r1 —
Wolfi rolling json-server 0.17.4-r7 —
Wolfi rolling jupyter-base-notebook 7.6.3-r2 —
Wolfi rolling katib-earlystopping +8 0.19.0-r31 —
Wolfi rolling katib-suggestion-goptuna-compat 0.19.0-r40 —
Wolfi rolling kubeflow-centraldashboard 1.10.0-r22 —
Wolfi rolling kubeflow-pipelines-frontend 2.16.1-r3 —
Wolfi rolling langfuse-3 +1 3.176.0-r0 —
Wolfi rolling opensearch-dashboards-3 +12 3.6.0-r4 —
Wolfi rolling prism 5.15.10-r1 —
Wolfi rolling py3.10-jupyterlab +3 4.6.1-r1 —
Wolfi rolling renovate 43.170.15-r2 —
Wolfi rolling saf 1.6.0-r0 —
Wolfi rolling sqlpad 7.5.7-r21 —
Wolfi rolling thingsboard-tb-web-ui +1 4.3.1.2-r1 —
Wolfi rolling tileserver-gl 5.6.0-r3 —

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
npm qs >= 6.11.1, < 6.15.2 6.15.2 GHSA-q8mj-m7cp-5q26

Advisories 6

References