Summary
qs v6.15.3 allows bracket-key input to bypass arrayLimit and throwOnLimitExceeded when comma: true. The input a[]=1,2,3,4 succeeds with arrayLimit: 3, while the equivalent plain-key input is rejected.
Affected version tested:
qs v6.15.3
commit 18d085e919dae70c8f1b200ab99323058edab2c2
Details
parseArrayValue() enforces the comma limit only for flat values. The a[] form is marked non-flat, so its comma-separated value is wrapped after parsing and the inner array is not checked. A single parameter can therefore materialize arbitrarily large arrays.
PoC
const qs = require('qs')
const options = { comma: true, arrayLimit: 3, throwOnLimitExceeded: true }
const result = qs.parse('a[]=1,2,3,4', options)
console.log(result.a[0].length) // 4; expected RangeError
const big = qs.parse('a[]=' + '1,'.repeat(1000000) + '1', { comma: true, arrayLimit: 20 })
console.log(big.a[0].length) // 1000001
On v6.15.3, the first input parses successfully and the second creates an array with 1,000,001 elements. The equivalent a=1,2,3,4 input throws RangeError as expected.
Impact
An attacker who can supply a query string or form body can bypass configured array limits and force excessive memory allocation, causing denial of service. The limit must be applied after comma splitting and before the resulting array is wrapped.
NVD description
### Summary
When `qs.parse` is called with `comma: true` and `throwOnLimitExceeded: true`, a comma-separated value under a bracket-push key (`a[]=1,2,3,4`) is split into an array without being compared against `arrayLimit`, while the same value under a flat key (`a=1,2,3,4`), an indexed key (`a[0]=`), a nested key (`a[b]=`), or a dotted key (`a.b=` with `allowDots`) throws the documented `RangeError`. A single parameter such as `a[]=1,2,2,...` therefore produces an inner array of arbitrary length even though the caller opted into the hard limit. This is the `[]=` key form that the fix for CVE-2026-2391 (qs 6.14.2) did not cover.
### Details
In `lib/parse.js`, a comma-separated value under a `[]=` key is split and then wrapped as a single nested element (`val = [val]`, so that each `a[]=x,y` group counts as one element of the outer array). The `arrayLimit` check that 6.14.2 added for comma values runs after that wrap, so for `[]=` parts it only ever saw the wrapper of length 1. 6.15.3 added a pre-split comma count so that an oversized value throws before it is allocated, but gated it on an `isFlatArrayValue` flag that `parseValues` set to `false` for any part containing `[]=`, and did not pass it for object-valued input, so the gap remained.
#### PoC
```js
var qs = require('qs');
var options = { comma: true, arrayLimit: 3, throwOnLimitExceeded: true };
qs.parse('a=1,2,3,4', options); // RangeError: Array limit exceeded. Only 3 elements allowed in an array.
qs.parse('a[]=1,2,3,4', options); // { a: [ [ '1', '2', '3', '4' ] ] } (no throw)
qs.parse('a[]=' + '1,'.repeat(1000000) + '1', { comma: true, arrayLimit: 20, throwOnLimitExceeded: true });
// no throw; a 1,000,001-element inner array is allocated
```
#### Fix
`lib/parse.js`, applied in 8859c37 on `main` and released as v6.16.0: the `isFlatArrayValue` gate is removed, so every comma-split value is counted against `arrayLimit` before splitting regardless of key form. An in-limit group under `a[]=` still counts as one element of the outer array, and the default (`throwOnLimitExceeded: false`) path is unchanged.
### Affected versions
`>=6.14.2 <6.16.0`, fixed in v6.16.0.
v6.14.2 introduced `arrayLimit` enforcement for comma values (the fix for CVE-2026-2391) but only for values not under a `[]=` key, and every release from v6.14.2 through v6.15.3 has the same gap. v6.14.0 and v6.14.1, where `throwOnLimitExceeded` exists but does not apply to any comma form, are covered by CVE-2026-2391 rather than this record. Earlier lines (6.7.x through 6.13.x) have `comma` but no `throwOnLimitExceeded`, so there is no hard cap on any comma path to bypass; releases before 6.7.0 have no `comma` option.
### Impact
An unauthenticated attacker who can reach an application that parses untrusted query strings or urlencoded bodies with both `comma: true` and `throwOnLimitExceeded: true` (both non-default) can bypass the configured limit with a single `a[]=` parameter and force the parser to allocate an array proportional to the request size. The cost is strictly linear in the attacker-supplied bytes (about 0.1 microseconds and 6 to 7 retained bytes per input byte; the same out-of-memory threshold as the documented default `throwOnLimitExceeded: false` path), so a transport-layer request or body size limit bounds it completely (and node's default maximum HTTP header size of 16 KB already bounds the request line, so multi-megabyte payloads need a body parser). The impact is that an opt-in hard limit fails open on one key spelling, not unbounded allocation from a small input.