GHSA-6q7j-xr26-3h2c: Scriban: ExpressionDepthLimit guard is non-enforcing — parser-recursion DoS in 6.6.0–7.2.0 (incomplete fix for GHSA-wgh7-7m3c-fx25 / GHSA-p6q4-fgr8-vx4p)

Summary The ExpressionDepthLimit parser guard in Scriban does not actually stop parsing — it only logs a non-fatal error and lets recursive descent continue. As a result, a template containing a deeply nested expression (parentheses, array initializers, object initializers, or unary operators) drives the recursive-descent parser into a native stack overflow. The resulting StackOverflowException is uncatchable in .NET and immediately terminates the host process. Any application that parses an attacker-influenced template — or that passes attacker-controlled strings to object.eval / object.eval_template — can be crashed by a single small request (roughly an 8 KB payload). This is a denial-of-service. It affects both Scriban-native (Template.Parse) and Liquid (Template.ParseLiquid) syntax modes, which share the same expression parser. This re-opens two advisories that were reported as fixed: GHSA-wgh7-7m3c-fx25 ("Uncontrolled recursion in parser → StackOverflow", reported fixed in 6.6.0) and GHSA-p6q4-fgr8-vx4p ("StackOverflow via nested array initializers bypasses ExpressionDepthLimit", reported fixed in 7.0.0). Both fixes are incomplete: the limit they rely on never halts recursion. All releases 6.6.0 through 7.2.0 (current) are affected. Details The depth guard is EnterExpression() in src/Scriban/Parsing/Parser.Expressions.cs: // src/Scriban/Parsing/Parser.Expressions.cs:1209-1218 private void EnterExpression() { _expressionDepth++; var limit = Options.ExpressionDepthLimit; if (limit > 0 && !_isExpressionDepthLimitReached && _expressionDepth > limit) { LogError(GetSpanForToken(Previous), $"The statement depth limit {limit} was reached when parsing this statement"); _isExpressionDepthLimitReached = true; } } When the limit is exceeded it calls LogError(...) and sets a flag. It does not throw, does not return a sentinel, and does not unwind the parse. `