CVE-2026-44490
axios has DoS & Header Injection via Prototype Pollution Read-Side Gadgets in axios merge functions
Description
Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 0.32.0 and 1.16.0, axios 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) 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) 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. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.32.0 and 1.16.0.
How to fix CVE-2026-44490
To remediate CVE-2026-44490, upgrade the affected package to a fixed version below.
- —no fix listed
- —upgrade to 1.16.0 or later
Is CVE-2026-44490 being exploited?
No exploitation signal available. Neither CISA KEV nor a current EPSS score has been published for CVE-2026-44490.
Affected packages (2)
- from 0
- >= 1.0.0, < 1.16.0
CVSS scores
| Source | Version | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| osv | CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM4.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L |