● Medium · CVSS 5.3

How to Fix CVE-2026-31808: CWE-835: Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')

Q: Is CVE-2026-31808 being actively exploited?

Not at the time of writing. It is not listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. That status can change, so monitor the vendor advisory and the KEV catalog if the system is exposed.

Q: How severe is CVE-2026-31808?

CVSS rates it 5.3 (Medium). Use that score to set your patch priority next to the other items in your queue.

Q: Do I have to take file-type offline to apply the patch?

It depends on the deployment. High-availability or clustered installs can usually patch one node at a time with no full outage. Standalone installs typically need a short restart. Always follow the vendor's documented upgrade steps.

Q: What if my vulnerability scanner still flags CVE-2026-31808 after I patch?

Re-run the scan after a service restart, then confirm the scanner's plugin set is up to date. Some scanners detect by banner version only and lag the official fix metadata by a release.

Other vulnerabilities in the same area that are worth patching alongside this one:

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How to Fix CVE-2026-6701: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in addfreespace — Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in addfreespace
How to Fix CVE-2026-1126: Unrestricted File Upload in flow , Unrestricted File Upload in flow
How to Fix CVE-2026-33993: Deserialization RCE in locutus , Deserialization RCE in locutus
How to Fix CVE-2026-28077: Improper control of filename for include/require statement in php program ('php. , Improper control of filename for include/require statement in php program ('php.

*By Sai Kiran Pandrala*

⚡ At a glance


Severity	CVSS 5.3, Medium
Actively exploited?	No
Affected	Sindresorhus file-type (>= 13.0.0, < 21.3.1)
Fixed in	21.3.1
Type (CWE)	CWE-835: Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')

What is CVE-2026-31808?

file-type detects the file type of a file, stream, or data. Prior to 21.3.1, a denial of service vulnerability exists in the ASF (WMV/WMA) file type detection parser. When parsing a crafted input where an ASF sub-header has a size field of zero, the parser enters an infinite loop.

In practical terms, a successful attacker gets a denial-of-service condition that crashes or hangs the affected service. There is no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation listed in CISA's KEV catalog at the time of writing, but the CVSS rating still warrants prompt patching.

Am I affected?

You're affected if you run Sindresorhus file-type at any version in the Affected row above. Use these probes to find your installed build:


# Confirm the installed version via your package manager
dpkg -l | grep -i file-type   # Debian/Ubuntu
rpm -qa | grep -i file-type   # RHEL/CentOS/Rocky

How to fix CVE-2026-31808

The primary fix is to upgrade to the patched build listed in the Fixed in row above (21.3.1). Pick the platform that matches your install and run the commands below.

Linux (Ubuntu / Debian)


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade file-type
# Confirm the installed version meets or exceeds 21.3.1
dpkg -s file-type | grep ^Version

Linux (RHEL / CentOS / Rocky)


sudo dnf upgrade --security file-type -y
rpm -q file-type

Windows (PowerShell, admin)


# Try winget first
winget upgrade --id 'Sindresorhus.file-type' --silent --accept-source-agreements --accept-package-agreements
# If winget does not know the product, download the patched installer from the vendor and:
Start-Process -FilePath "$env:TEMP\filetype-21.3.1.msi" -ArgumentList '/qn /norestart' -Wait

PowerShell script (Windows) - detect, back up, upgrade, verify, log


# Run as Administrator
$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$log = "$env:ProgramData\filetype-Patch-CVE-2026-31808.log"
function Write-Log($msg) { "$(Get-Date -Format s)  $msg" | Tee-Object -FilePath $log -Append }

Write-Log "Starting CVE-2026-31808 remediation for Sindresorhus file-type"

# 1. Detect: replace the path/version probe with one valid for your install
$installed = (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product |
    Where-Object { $_.Name -like '*file-type*' } |
    Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty Version)
Write-Log "Detected version: $installed"

if (-not $installed) {
    Write-Log "Product not installed on this host; nothing to do."
    return
}
if ([version]$installed -ge [version]'21.3.1') {
    Write-Log "Already at fixed version $installed; no action needed."
    return
}

# 2. Backup configuration to a timestamped folder
$backup = "$env:ProgramData\filetype-Backup-$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd-HHmm)"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $backup -Force | Out-Null
# Adjust the source path to match your install
$src = "$env:ProgramFiles\Sindresorhus\file-type"
if (Test-Path $src) { Copy-Item -Path $src -Destination $backup -Recurse -Force }
Write-Log "Backed up config to $backup"

# 3. Apply the patched installer (place the verified file on a share or staging path)
$installer = "$env:TEMP\filetype-21.3.1.msi"
if (-not (Test-Path $installer)) {
    throw "Patched installer not found at $installer. Stage it from your software repo first."
}
Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList "/i `"$installer`" /qn /norestart" -Wait
Write-Log "Installer finished"

# 4. Verify
$verify = (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product |
    Where-Object { $_.Name -like '*file-type*' } |
    Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty Version)
if ([version]$verify -ge [version]'21.3.1') {
    Write-Log "SUCCESS: now at $verify (>= 21.3.1)"
} else {
    Write-Log "FAILURE: still at $verify after install"
    exit 1
}

Bash script (Linux) - detect, back up, upgrade, verify, log


#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
LOG=/var/log/file-type-patch-cve-2026-31808.log
log()  { echo "$(date -Iseconds)  $*" | tee -a "$LOG"; }

log "Starting CVE-2026-31808 remediation for Sindresorhus file-type"

# 1. Detect installed version (works for deb and rpm packages)
if command -v dpkg >/dev/null && dpkg -s file-type >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    CURRENT=$(dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}' file-type)
    PKG_MGR=apt
elif command -v rpm >/dev/null && rpm -q file-type >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    CURRENT=$(rpm -q --queryformat '%{VERSION}' file-type)
    PKG_MGR=dnf
else
    log "file-type not installed via apt or rpm; check your package manager or vendor instructions."
    exit 0
fi
log "Detected: file-type=$CURRENT (manager=$PKG_MGR)"

# 2. Backup config
BACKUP=/var/backups/file-type-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)
mkdir -p "$BACKUP"
for d in /etc/file-type /etc/${pkg%%-*} ; do
    [ -d "$d" ] && cp -a "$d" "$BACKUP/" && log "Backed up $d to $BACKUP"
done

# 3. Upgrade
if [ "$PKG_MGR" = apt ]; then
    sudo apt-get update -y
    sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y file-type
else
    sudo dnf upgrade --security -y file-type
fi

# 4. Verify
if [ "$PKG_MGR" = apt ]; then
    NEW=$(dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}' file-type)
else
    NEW=$(rpm -q --queryformat '%{VERSION}' file-type)
fi
log "After upgrade: $NEW"

# Optionally compare against 21.3.1 with dpkg --compare-versions or sort -V
log "Done. Restart the affected service if the package install did not."

If you can't patch immediately

These are runnable hardening commands. They reduce blast radius but they're not a replacement for the vendor patch.

Rate-limit and watchdog the affected service

Linux:


# Drop traffic above 50 connections/second from a single source
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -m limit --limit 50/s -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -m conntrack --ctstate NEW -j DROP

Set systemd to auto-restart the service on crash:


[Service]
Restart=always
RestartSec=5s

How to verify the fix worked

Run the version probe again and confirm the running build matches the Fixed in row above.


# Confirm the running build matches the patched version listed by the vendor
# Example for Linux package installs:
dpkg -l | grep -i "file-type"   # Debian/Ubuntu
rpm -qa | grep -i "file-type"   # RHEL/CentOS/Rocky

Expected output: the package version should meet or exceed 21.3.1.

Then re-run any vulnerability scanner you used previously and confirm the finding for CVE-2026-31808 has cleared. Sweep your logs for the indicators of compromise listed in the vendor or CISA advisory, especially if the system was internet-reachable during the disclosure window.

Frequently asked questions

Is CVE-2026-31808 being actively exploited?