Observed Signal · Jul 9, 2026 · Technical Release · Source: DEV Community · Impact: 1/5 · Sentiment: Neutral

Free ReDoS Checker and API to Detect Catastrophic Regexes

Executive Signal Summary

A developer tutorial and announcement for ReDoScan, a REST API and free web checker built by Hudson Enterprises LLC that detects ReDoS (regular expression denial-of-service) vulnerabilities caused by catastrophic backtracking in backtracking-based regex engines. The service offers static analysis (fast, rule-based risk badges) and an optional dynamic timing mode that measures runtime growth and classifies it (safe / polynomial / exponential). Key endpoints include /scan, /scan-batch (up to 200 patterns) and /known-evil (public corpus). The API is available via a RapidAPI listing with a free tier (1,500 scans/month); paid tiers provide higher monthly scan quotas. The article explains how to integrate ReDoScan into CI/CD gates, caveats about coverage (not a full SAST) and recommended usage patterns for batch CI and deeper audits.

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High Confidence

Developer-focused tool improving detection of ReDoS vulnerabilities; useful for engineering teams but not industry-shifting for AdTech/MarTech.

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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding

  • ReDoScan is a REST API and free web checker built by Hudson Enterprises LLC to detect ReDoS (regex denial-of-service) risks.
  • The service performs fast static analysis that returns a 5-level risk badge (safe / low / medium / high / critical) and an is_redos_vulnerable boolean.
  • An optional dynamic timing mode feeds adversarial inputs at increasing lengths, reports per-length timings and a growth_classification (safe / polynomial / exponential).
  • API endpoints documented in the article include POST /scan, POST /scan-batch (up to 200 patterns), and GET /known-evil (public corpus).
  • ReDoScan is listed on RapidAPI with a free BASIC tier (1,500 scans/month); paid tiers: PRO $9/mo (10,000), ULTRA $49/mo (100,000), MEGA $199/mo (1,000,000).
Primary Source Grounding & Direct Attribution
Direct Origin Attribution
Primary Reporting: DEV Community•Published: Jul 9, 2026
Original Coverage Title: “Find catastrophic-backtracking regexes before they ship (free checker + API)”

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