CVE-2026-44490 MEDIUM

CVE-2026-44490: Axios: DoS & Header Injection via Prototype Pollution Read-Side Gadgets in axios merge functions

Vendor Axios
Product axios
Weakness CWE-1321
Published June 11, 2026
Last update June 11, 2026

CVSS base score

4.8/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity High
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Confidentiality None
Integrity Low

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L

What the vulnerability does

01Description

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.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

June 11, 2026 CVE published
June 11, 2026 Record updated