cookies vulnerable to Set-Cookie attribute injection via unvalidated domain and path options
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · Low · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
cookies is a Node.js library for reading and writing HTTP cookies, used by Koa via ctx.cookies. In versions before 0.9.2 the library validates the cookie name and value against character sets that reject the semicolon separator, but the domain and path options are checked only against a permissive RFC 7230 field-content matcher that allows semicolons, and both are written into the Set-Cookie header unescaped. An application that passes untrusted or request-derived data into the domain or path option can therefore inject additional cookie attributes, overriding SameSite, Secure, HttpOnly, or Domain on the cookies the application issues. This is a Set-Cookie attribute injection issue (CWE-74). The issue is fixed in cookies 0.9.2, which validates domain and path against RFC 6265 character sets. As a workaround, keep domain and path application-set rather than derived from untrusted input.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- 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
Remediation
- Fix · CNA cookies (cookies) Fixed in 0.9.2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1 | 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 |
| Self-service automation portal 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-88038
- 2026-10-27 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Sources
- CVE-2026-88038 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-88038 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2026-88038 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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