Axios vulnerabilities

axios versions 0.31.1 before 0.33.0 and 1.15.1 before 1.18.0 contain an incomplete depth-limit bypass in toFormData.js when serializing objects with top-level keys ending in '{}'. Attackers who control object keys and nested values passed to axios form or parameter serialization can trigger a RangeError from JSON.stringify, causing denial of service in the affected request path.

axios in a Node.js deployment using the HTTP adapter can route requests through an attacker-controlled proxy. axios hardens merged request configuration by creating a null-prototype object, but request interceptors run after the merge; a common immutable interceptor pattern such as {...config} or Object.assign({}, config) converts the hardened config back into a regular object. axios then dispatches that object without re-hardening it, and the Node HTTP adapter reads config.proxy through the prototype chain. If an attacker can pollute Object.prototype.proxy, affected requests can be routed through an attacker-controlled proxy. For plaintext HTTP requests, the proxy can observe Authorization headers, Basic auth from config.auth, method, absolute URL, Host, and request body, and can return its own response. This does not establish browser impact or HTTPS header/body disclosure under normal TLS validation. Affected versions are >=0.31.1 (fixed in 0.33.0) and >=1.15.2 (fixed in 1.18.0).

axios versions 1.7.0 before 1.18.0 fail to enforce maxBodyLength for WHATWG ReadableStream request bodies in the fetch adapter when Content-Length cannot be determined. Attackers can supply unknown-length stream data to bypass upload size limits and cause uncontrolled network egress or resource exhaustion.

axios is vulnerable to read-side prototype-pollution gadgets that can alter request construction when Object.prototype has already been polluted by a separate vulnerability or dependency. In the bodyless method aliases (axios.get(), axios.delete(), axios.head(), axios.options()), inherited data is read via (config || {}).data before config normalization, causing an attacker-controlled body to be sent on requests that did not set one. Additional low-level paths, only reachable when calling exported adapters/helpers (e.g. lib/adapters/http.js, unsafe/helpers/resolveConfig.js) directly with plain configs and no own proxy or paramsSerializer, can inherit polluted proxy values (routing requests through an attacker-controlled proxy) or paramsSerializer values (attacker-controlled URL serialization). These low-level gadgets do not reproduce through normal high-level axios calls on 1.15.2+. The issue is fixed in axios 1.18.0 and 0.33.0.

axios versions 0.31.0 before 0.33.0 and 1.15.0 before 1.18.0 fail to recognize 0.0.0.0 as a loopback address in shouldBypassProxy.js, allowing requests to 0.0.0.0 to bypass NO_PROXY rules. Attackers can supply 0.0.0.0 URLs to route requests through configured proxies, potentially exposing local services when the proxy can reach the destination.

axios versions 0.28.0 and later contain uncontrolled recursion in formDataToJSON when processing FormData field names with deeply nested bracket segments. Attackers can supply FormData with field names containing thousands of nested brackets to exhaust the JavaScript call stack and trigger RangeError, causing request failure or process termination in applications that do not handle the exception.

axios versions from 0.28.0 before 0.33.0 and from 1.0.0 before 1.18.0 contain uncontrolled recursion in formDataToJSON (exposed as axios.formToJSON() and used internally when serializing FormData with Content-Type: application/json). When an application passes attacker-controlled FormData field names, a field name with thousands of nested bracket-delimited segments causes unbounded recursion in buildPath(), exhausting the JavaScript call stack (RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded) and causing denial of service for that request, or process termination in applications without appropriate error handling.

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Axios versions before 0.32.0 on the 0.x line and before 1.16.0 on the 1.x line build a regular expression from the configured XSRF cookie name without escaping regex metacharacters. In standard browser environments, an attacker who can influence the cookie name passed to axios can cause expensive regex backtracking while axios reads document.cookie. The practical impact is client-side availability degradation, such as freezing the affected browser tab while axios prepares a request. The issue does not affect ordinary Node.js HTTP adapter usage, React Native, or web workers, where axios does not read document.cookie. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.32.0 and 1.16.0.

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. From 0.19.0 to before 0.31.1 and 1.15.2, Axios contains prototype-pollution gadgets in request config processing. If another vulnerability in the same JavaScript process has already polluted Object.prototype.transformResponse, affected Axios versions may treat that inherited value as request configuration or as an option validator. Axios does not itself create the prototype pollution. Exploitability requires a separate prototype-pollution vulnerability or equivalent attacker control over Object.prototype before Axios creates a request. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.31.1 and 1.15.2.

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. From 1.0.0 to before 1.16.0, the Axios library is vulnerable to a Prototype Pollution "Gadget" attack that allows any Object.prototype pollution in the application's dependency tree to be escalated into a full Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack — intercepting, reading, and modifying all HTTP traffic including authentication credentials. The HTTP adapter at lib/adapters/http.js:670 reads config.proxy via standard property access, which traverses the prototype chain. Because proxy is not present in Axios defaults, the merged config object has no own proxy property, making it trivially injectable via prototype pollution. Once injected, setProxy() routes all HTTP requests through the attacker's proxy server. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.16.0.

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 0.32.0 and 1.16.0, Axios does not normalise IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses. When NO_PROXY lists an IPv4 address such as 127.0.0.1 or 169.254.169.254, a request URL using the IPv4-mapped IPv6 form (::ffff:7f00:1, ::ffff:a9fe:a9fe) still routes through the configured proxy. Node.js resolves these addresses to the underlying IPv4 host, so the request reaches the internal service via the proxy rather than being blocked. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.32.0 and 1.16.0.

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 0.32.0 and 1.16.0, axios exposes two read-side prototype-pollution gadgets. When Object.prototype is polluted by an upstream dependency in the same process (e.g. lodash _.merge / CVE-2018-16487), axios silently picks up the polluted values. (1) lib/utils.js line 406 builds merge()'s accumulator as result = {}, so result[targetKey] (line 414) walks Object.prototype and the polluted bucket's own keys are copied into the merged headers and ride out on the wire. (2) lib/core/mergeConfig.js line 26 builds the hasOwnProperty descriptor as a plain-object literal. Object.defineProperty reads descriptor.get/descriptor.set via the prototype chain, so a polluted Object.prototype.get or Object.prototype.set makes the call throw TypeError synchronously on every axios request. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.32.0 and 1.16.0.

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Axios versions 1.7.0 through 1.15.x did not enforce configured request and response size limits when requests were sent with the fetch adapter. Applications that selected adapter: 'fetch', or ran in environments where axios resolved to the fetch adapter, could receive or send bodies larger than maxContentLength or maxBodyLength despite those limits being explicitly configured. This can cause resource exhaustion in server-side usage when a malicious or compromised server returns an oversized response, when an attacker can supply a large data: URL, or when an application forwards attacker-controlled request bodies through axios while relying on maxBodyLength as a boundary. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.32.0 and 1.16.0.

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 0.32.0 and 1.16.0, Axios’s Node.js HTTP adapter may forward a Proxy-Authorization header to a redirected origin during specific proxy-to-direct redirect flows. This affects Node.js usage, where an initial HTTP request is sent through an authenticated HTTP proxy, redirects are followed, and the redirected URL is no longer proxied. Under affected redirect shapes, the final origin can receive the proxy credential that was intended only for the outbound proxy. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.32.0 and 1.16.0.

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 0.32.0 and 1.16.0, Axios’ Node.js HTTP adapter can leak proxy credentials to a redirect target in affected versions. When a request is sent through an authenticated proxy, Axios may add a Proxy-Authorization header. If Axios then follows a redirect and the redirected request is no longer sent through that proxy, the stale Proxy-Authorization header can remain on the redirected request and be sent to the redirect target. This affects Node.js's use of Axios with automatic redirects enabled and an authenticated proxy configuration. Browser adapters are not affected. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.32.0 and 1.16.0.