Axios: Authentication Bypass via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `validateStatus` Merge Strategy

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Summary

CVECVE-2026-42041
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-04-24 18:16:31 UTC
Updated2026-04-24 19:17:15 UTC
DescriptionAxios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 1.15.1 and 0.31.1, the Axios library is vulnerable to a Prototype Pollution "Gadget" attack that allows any Object.prototype pollution to silently suppress all HTTP error responses (401, 403, 500, etc.), causing them to be treated as successful responses. This completely bypasses application-level authentication and error handling. The root cause is that validateStatus is the only config property using the mergeDirectKeys merge strategy, which uses JavaScript's in operator — an operator that inherently traverses the prototype chain. When Object.prototype.validateStatus is polluted with () => true, all HTTP status codes are accepted as success. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.15.1 and 0.31.1.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 4.8 MEDIUM from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Problem Types: CWE-287 | CWE-1321 | CWE-287 CWE-287: Improper Authentication | CWE-1321 CWE-1321: Improperly Controlled Modification of Object Prototype Attributes ('Prototype Pollution')

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary4.8MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
3.1CNADECLARED4.8MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Axios Axios affected >= 1.0.0, < 1.15.1 Not specified
CNA Axios Axios affected < 0.31.1 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/axios/axios/security/advisories/GHSA-w9j2-pvgh-6h63 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 github.com
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