Axios: Authentication Bypass via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `validateStatus` Merge Strategy
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-42041 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | GitHub_M |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-04-24 18:16:31 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-07-10 12:16:50 UTC |
| Description | Axios 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 6.5 MEDIUM from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
EPSS: 0.000400000 probability, percentile 0.122040000 (date 2026-04-27)
Problem Types: CWE-287 | CWE-1321 | CWE-915 | CWE-287 CWE-287: Improper Authentication | CWE-1321 CWE-1321: Improperly Controlled Modification of Object Prototype Attributes ('Prototype Pollution') | CWE-915 Improperly Controlled Modification of Dynamically-Determined Object Attributes
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Primary | 6.5 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N |
| 3.1 | ADP | CVSS | 8.2 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N |
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Secondary | 4.8 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N |
| 3.1 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | Secondary | 8.2 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N |
| 3.1 | CNA | DECLARED | 4.8 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)
Vendor Declared Affected Products
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:14937 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16535 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17474 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20889 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:24853 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:24977 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:36882 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16476 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:22629 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16542 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:21017 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26232 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16532 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:25089 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20938 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-42041.json | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | security.access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:21338 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26214 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | bugzilla.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26225 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16874 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19375 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:25273 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| github.com/axios/axios/security/advisories/GHSA-w9j2-pvgh-6h63 | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 | github.com | Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:22465 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19109 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17699 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:23361 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:21772 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:16534 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:24536 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-42041 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:24539 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:25271 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:22840 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:22619 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17657 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26234 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:17468 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:25041 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:33574 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Additional Advisory Data
| Source | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| ADP | 2026-04-24T19:01:41.034Z | Reported to Red Hat. |
| ADP | 2026-04-24T17:55:30.036Z | Made public. |
Solutions
ADP: RHSA-2026:25089: HawtIO HawtIO 4.4.0
ADP: RHSA-2026:16874: Network Observability (NETOBSERV) 1.11.2
ADP: RHSA-2026:36882: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14
ADP: RHSA-2026:24539: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.15
ADP: RHSA-2026:25273: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.16
ADP: RHSA-2026:20889: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes 4.10
ADP: RHSA-2026:20938: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes 4.9
ADP: RHSA-2026:22619: Red Hat Data Grid 8.6.1
ADP: RHSA-2026:21338: Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8
ADP: RHSA-2026:33574: Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9
ADP: RHSA-2026:26234: Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9
ADP: RHSA-2026:14937: Red Hat Discovery 2
ADP: RHSA-2026:25041: Red Hat Migration Toolkit 1.8
ADP: RHSA-2026:24977: Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25
ADP: RHSA-2026:17468: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.20
ADP: RHSA-2026:17474: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.21
ADP: RHSA-2026:21772: Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3.28
ADP: RHSA-2026:16476: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 2.6
ADP: RHSA-2026:16532: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.1
ADP: RHSA-2026:16535: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.2
ADP: RHSA-2026:16542: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3.3
ADP: RHSA-2026:16534: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3
ADP: RHSA-2026:22840: Red Hat Quay 3.10
ADP: RHSA-2026:22629: Red Hat Quay 3.12
ADP: RHSA-2026:21017: Red Hat Quay 3.14
ADP: RHSA-2026:24853: Red Hat Quay 3.15
ADP: RHSA-2026:19375: Red Hat Quay 3.16
ADP: RHSA-2026:22465: Red Hat Quay 3.17
ADP: RHSA-2026:23361: Red Hat Quay 3.9
ADP: RHSA-2026:26214: Red Hat Satellite 6.18
ADP: RHSA-2026:26232: Red Hat Satellite 6.18
ADP: RHSA-2026:26225: Red Hat Satellite 6.18
ADP: RHSA-2026:24536: multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.10
ADP: RHSA-2026:25271: multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.11
ADP: RHSA-2026:17657: multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.6
ADP: RHSA-2026:17699: multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.8
ADP: RHSA-2026:19109: multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.9