CVE-2026-42042 | Axios: XSRF Token Cross-Origin Leakage via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `withXSRFToken` Boolean Coercion

Exp

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's XSRF token protection logic uses JavaScript truthy/falsy semantics instead of strict boolean comparison for the withXSRFToken config property. When this property is set to any truthy non-boolean value (via prototype pollution or misconfiguration), the same-origin check (isURLSameOrigin) is short-circuited, causing XSRF tokens to be sent to all request targets including cross-origin servers controlled by an attacker. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.15.1 and 0.31.1.

Published: 2026-04-24 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-42042 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.23%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-42042

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-42042

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.07% 0.23% +0.16%
2 2026-06-05 0.03% 0.07% +0.04%
3 2026-04-25 0.03%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-42042

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 2.5 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-42042

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-42042

GHSA-xx6v-rp6x-q39c · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: npm — Axios: XSRF Token Cross-Origin Leakage via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `withXSRFToken` Boolean Coercion

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-42042

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-42042 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (node-axios), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 3, resolved 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-42042
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-42042 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (node-axios), 6 status rows across 6 suites (focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, upstream): needs-triage 5, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-42042

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-42042

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
axios axios < 0.31.1 cpe:2.3:a:axios:axios:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*
axios axios >= 1.0.0, < 1.15.1 cpe:2.3:a:axios:axios:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*

References for CVE-2026-42042

cvelogic Threat Intelligence