CVE-2026-44494 | Axios: Full Man-in-the-Middle via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `config.proxy`

Exp

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. From 1.0.0 to before 1.16.0, the Axios library is vulnerable to a Prototype Pollution "Gadget" attack that allows any Object.prototype pollution in the application's dependency tree to be escalated into a full Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack — intercepting, reading, and modifying all HTTP traffic including authentication credentials. The HTTP adapter at lib/adapters/http.js:670 reads config.proxy via standard property access, which traverses the prototype chain. Because proxy is not present in Axios defaults, the merged config object has no own proxy property, making it trivially injectable via prototype pollution. Once injected, setProxy() routes all HTTP requests through the attacker's proxy server. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.16.0.

Published: 2026-06-11 Last update: 2026-06-12 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-44494 is rated High Exploit Risk (61.7/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.42%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2026-44494

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-44494

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 0.10% 0.42% +0.31%
2 2026-06-13 0.03% 0.10% +0.07%
3 2026-06-12 — 0.03% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-44494

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.7 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 5.8 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-44494

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-44494

GHSA-35jp-ww65-95wh · Severity: high · Ecosystem: npm — axios Vulnerable to Full Man-in-the-Middle via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `config.proxy`

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-44494

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-44494 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-2026-44494
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-44494

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-44494

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
axios axios >= 1.0.0, < 1.16.0 cpe:2.3:a:axios:axios:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*

References for CVE-2026-44494

cvelogic Threat Intelligence