Axios: Proxy-Authorization Header Injection via Prototype Pollution — Incomplete Null-Prototype Fix
Priority MEDIUM 57CWE-113Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · Low · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 34 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat.
Summary
Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. From 1.15.2 to before 1.16.0, nested objects created by utils.merge() (e.g., config.proxy) are still constructed as plain {} with Object.prototype in their chain. The setProxy() function at lib/adapters/http.js:209-223 reads proxy.username, proxy.password, and proxy.auth without hasOwnProperty checks. When Object.prototype.username is polluted, setProxy() constructs a Proxy-Authorization header with attacker-controlled credentials and injects it into every proxied HTTP request. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.16.0.
Why it matters now
Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00236 14th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Partial axios (npm): 1.16.0Red Hat: 34 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 | 1.15.2 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
| — | axios (npm) | 1.15.2 to before 1.16.0 | 1.16.0 | Patch available | GHSA-654m-c8p4-x5fp |
- axios Vendoraxios Affected 1.15.2 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
- axios (npm) Vendor— Affected 1.15.2 to before 1.16.0 Fixed in 1.16.0 Patch available GHSA-654m-c8p4-x5fp
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-654m-c8p4-x5fp axios (npm) Fixed in 1.16.0 Advisory →
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 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 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 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 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Self-service automation portal 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3
- Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-44489
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-654m-c8p4-x5fp
- 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-2026-44489 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-44489 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-654m-c8p4-x5fp · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-44489 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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