Axios: Null Byte Injection via Reverse-Encoding in AxiosURLSearchParams
Priority MEDIUM 51CWE-116Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · Low · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 fixed, 40 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat.
Summary
Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 1.15.1 and 0.31.1, the encode() function in lib/helpers/AxiosURLSearchParams.js contains a character mapping (charMap) at line 21 that reverses the safe percent-encoding of null bytes. After encodeURIComponent('\x00') correctly produces the safe sequence %00, the charMap entry '%00': '\x00' converts it back to a raw null byte. Primary impact is limited because the standard axios request flow is not affected. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.15.1 and 0.31.1.
Why it matters now
Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00217 12th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Partial axios (axios): 1.15.1, 0.31.1axios (npm): 1.15.1, 0.31.1Red Hat: 1 advisoryRed Hat: 1 fixed, 40 without a fix
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| axios | axios | 1.0.0 to before 1.15.1; before 0.31.1 | 1.15.1, 0.31.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | axios (npm) | 1.0.0 to before 1.15.1 | 1.15.1 | Patch available | GHSA-xhjh-pmcv-23jw |
| — | axios (npm) | before 0.31.1 | 0.31.1 | Patch available | GHSA-xhjh-pmcv-23jw |
- axios Vendoraxios Affected 1.0.0 to before 1.15.1; before 0.31.1 Fixed in 1.15.1, 0.31.1 Patch available CNA
- axios (npm) Vendor— Affected 1.0.0 to before 1.15.1 Fixed in 1.15.1 Patch available GHSA-xhjh-pmcv-23jw
- axios (npm) Vendor— Affected before 0.31.1 Fixed in 0.31.1 Patch available GHSA-xhjh-pmcv-23jw
Remediation
- Fix · CNA axios (axios) Fixed in 1.15.1, 0.31.1
- Fix · GHSA-xhjh-pmcv-23jw axios (npm) Fixed in 1.15.1 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-xhjh-pmcv-23jw axios (npm) Fixed in 0.31.1 Advisory →
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2026:86618 Released 2026-10-21 · Red Hat rating CriticalNew container image: rhceph-9.2
- Red Hat Ceph Storage 9.2 registry.redhat.io/rhceph/rhceph-9-rhel10
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Cryostat 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Gatekeeper 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Migration Toolkit for Applications 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Migration Toolkit for Containers | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Multicluster Engine for Kubernetes | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Network Observability Operator | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Pipelines | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Service Mesh 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Service Mesh 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop - Tech Preview | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Connectivity Link 1 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Data Grid 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Discovery 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Fuse 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Process Automation 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Quay 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Satellite 6 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Trusted Artifact Signer | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Trusted Profile Analyzer | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel - HawtIO 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel for Spring Boot 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Self-service automation portal 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| streams for Apache Kafka 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| streams for Apache Kafka 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 9.2 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:86618 |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Ceph Storage 9.2
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-42040
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-xhjh-pmcv-23jw
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: RHSA-2026:86618 · Red Hat
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: Red Hat Ceph Storage 9.2 · Red Hat
- 2026-10-27 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
More Axios vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-30422 Server-side request forgery in axios CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2026-32427 Server-side request forgery in axios CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6
- TI-2026-30578 Axios: Prototype pollution read-side gadgets in HTTP adapter allow credential injection and request hijacking CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-32428 Axios: Full Man-in-the-Middle via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `config.proxy` CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.7
- TI-2025-20009 Possible SSRF and Credential Leakage via Absolute URL in axios Requests CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.7
- TI-2026-32430 Axios: Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) via Cookie Name Injection CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-42040 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-42040 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-xhjh-pmcv-23jw · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-42040 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences