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 is vulnerable to a Prototype Pollution "Gadget" attack that allows any Object.prototype pollution to silently suppress all HTTP error responses (401, 403, 500, etc.), causing them to be treated as successful responses. This completely bypasses application-level authentication and error handling. The root cause is that validateStatus is the only config property using the mergeDirectKeys merge strategy, which uses JavaScript's in operator — an operator that inherently traverses the prototype chain. When Object.prototype.validateStatus is polluted with () => true, all HTTP status codes are accepted as success. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.15.1 and 0.31.1.
History

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 19:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Fri, 24 Apr 2026 18:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description 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 is vulnerable to a Prototype Pollution "Gadget" attack that allows any Object.prototype pollution to silently suppress all HTTP error responses (401, 403, 500, etc.), causing them to be treated as successful responses. This completely bypasses application-level authentication and error handling. The root cause is that validateStatus is the only config property using the mergeDirectKeys merge strategy, which uses JavaScript's in operator — an operator that inherently traverses the prototype chain. When Object.prototype.validateStatus is polluted with () => true, all HTTP status codes are accepted as success. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.15.1 and 0.31.1.
Title Axios: Authentication Bypass via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `validateStatus` Merge Strategy
Weaknesses CWE-1321
CWE-287
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published: 2026-04-24T17:55:30.036Z

Updated: 2026-04-24T18:32:58.115Z

Reserved: 2026-04-23T16:05:01.709Z

Link: CVE-2026-42041

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-04-24T18:29:58.031Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-04-24T18:16:31.133

Modified: 2026-04-24T19:17:15.097

Link: CVE-2026-42041

cve-icon Redhat

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