CVE-2026-42041

Axios versions 0.28.0 and later contain uncontrolled recursion in formDataToJSON, the helper behind the public axios.formToJSON() / named formToJSON API and the default request transform used when FormData is sent with an application/json content type.

Axios is vulnerable to read-side prototype-pollution gadgets when Object.prototype has already been polluted by another vulnerability or dependency. The most broadly reachable issue is in the bodyless method aliases: axios.get(), axios.delete(), axios.head(), and axios.options().

A vulnerability in the axios library allows sending requests to absolute URLs instead of relative ones, potentially leading to SSRF attacks and credential leakage. Even with baseURL set, axios ignores it and sends the request to the specified absolute URL.

Axios versions starting with 0.28.0 contain uncontrolled recursion in formDataToJSON, which is exposed as axios.formToJSON() and used internally when axios serialises FormData with Content-Type: application/json. If an application passes attacker-controlled FormData field names, it can lead to stack exhaustion.

An issue in Axios 1.5.1 inadvertently reveals the confidential XSRF-TOKEN stored in cookies by including it in the HTTP header X-XSRF-TOKEN for every request made to any host, allowing attackers to view sensitive information.

Axios can consume inherited properties from nested request option objects when the JavaScript process already has a polluted Object.prototype. The top-level merged config is protected with a null prototype, but nested plain objects such as auth and paramsSerializer are cloned into objects with a prototype.

A vulnerability in Axios prior to versions 1.15.0 and 0.31.0 incorrectly handles hostname normalization when checking NO_PROXY rules. Requests to loopback addresses like localhost. (with a trailing dot) or [::1] (IPv6 literal) skip NO_PROXY matching and go through the configured proxy.

In axios versions 0.31.1 before 0.33.0 and 1.15.1 before 1.18.0, there is an incomplete depth-limit bypass in toFormData.js. Attackers who control object keys and nested values passed to axios form or parameter serialization can trigger a RangeError from JSON.stringify, causing denial of service in the affected request path.

axios in a Node.js deployment using the HTTP adapter can route requests through an attacker-controlled proxy. axios hardens merged request configuration by creating a null-prototype object, but request interceptors run after the merge; a common immutable interceptor pattern such as {...config} or Object.assign({}, config) converts the hardened config back into a regular object. axios then dispatches that object without re-hardening it, and the Node HTTP adapter reads config.proxy through the prototype chain. If an attacker can pollute Object.prototype.proxy, affected requests can be routed through an attacker-controlled proxy. For plaintext HTTP requests, the proxy can observe Authorization headers, Basic auth from config.auth, method, absolute URL, Host, and request body, and can return its own response. This does not establish browser impact or HTTPS header/body disclosure under normal TLS validation. Affected versions are >=0.31.1 (fixed in 0.33.0) and >=1.15.2 (fixed in 1.18.0).

Axios before version 0.33.0 (and 1.x before 1.18.0) can consume inherited properties from nested request option objects when the JavaScript process's Object.prototype has already been polluted by another component. While the top-level merged config uses a null prototype, nested plain objects such as auth and paramsSerializer are cloned into ordinary objects and read without own-property checks. When an application passes placeholder nested objects such as auth: {} or paramsSerializer: {}, inherited username/password values can cause silent injection of an Authorization: Basic header, and inherited encode/serialize values can alter query-string serialization (full serializer replacement requires a function-valued pollution primitive). This is exploitable only in the presence of pre-existing prototype pollution.