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Medium, CVSS 4.8amended

axios has DoS & Header Injection via Prototype Pollution Read-Side Gadgets in axios merge functions

CVE-2026-44490GHSA-898c-q2cr-xwhg

What to do

Vendor fix available. Upgrade each affected package to the fixed version on its release line (axios 1.16.0, 0.32.0), redeploy, then verify what is actually installed.

This page has no inventory attached, so it cannot say whether you are affected. A vendor fix is not proof that your deployment is fixed.

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Affected packages

  • npm axios

    Affected
    >= 1.0.0, < 1.16.0<= 0.31.1
    Fixed in
    1.16.0, 0.32.0

Sources

Severity and exploitation
Exploitation
No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.
CVSS
4.8 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
EPSS
  • CVE-2026-44490: 0.33% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 26.50 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.
Source description

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary axios 1.15.2 exposes two read-side prototype-pollution gadgets. When Object.prototype is polluted by an upstream dependency in the same process (e.g. lodash .merge / CVE-2018-16487), axios silently picks up the polluted values: 1. Header injection - lib/utils.js line 406 builds merge()'s accumulator as result = {}, so result[targetKey] (line 414) walks Object.prototype and the polluted bucket's own keys are copied into the merged headers and ride out on the wire. 2. Crash DoS - lib/core/mergeConfig.js line 26 builds the hasOwnProperty descriptor as a plain-object literal. Object.defineProperty reads descriptor.get/descriptor.set via the prototype chain, so a polluted Object.prototype.get or Object.prototype.set makes the call throw TypeError synchronously on every axios request. Affected Properties | Polluted slot | Effect | |---|---| | Object.prototype.common | injects headers on every method | | Object.prototype.delete / .head / .post / .put / .patch / .query | injects…

Dates and revisions
Published by the source
Last modified by the source
Source last checked
  1. Revision 2 · amended ·

    Amended from ghsa record GHSA-898c-q2cr-xwhg

  2. Revision 1 · created ·

    Published from osv record GHSA-898c-q2cr-xwhg

Agent brief

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-44490

Advisory: axios has DoS & Header Injection via Prototype Pollution Read-Side Gadgets in axios merge functions
IDs: CVE-2026-44490, GHSA-898c-q2cr-xwhg
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-44490 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 12:55 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 4.8)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: axios 1.16.0, 0.32.0. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm axios: affected >= 1.0.0, < 1.16.0; <= 0.31.1; fixed in 1.16.0, 0.32.0

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `npm ls axios --all`: lists every installed copy and version, including transitive ones. Run in the project root after `npm ci`.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on axios.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-898c-q2cr-xwhg (OSV record GHSA-898c-q2cr-xwhg lists affected ranges: npm axios >=1.0.0 =0 <0.32.0 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-898c-q2cr-xwhg (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-898c-q2cr-xwhg lists affected ranges: npm axios >=1.0.0 =0 <=0.31.1)

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