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AxiosApplication

CVE-2026-42044

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.15.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. From 1.0.0 to before 1.15.2, he 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 surgical, invisible modification of all JSON API responses — including privilege escalation, balance manipulation, and authorization bypass. The default transformResponse function at lib/defaults/index.js:124 calls JSON.parse(data, this.parseReviver), where this is the merged config object. Because parseReviver is not present in Axios defaults, not validated by assertOptions, and not subject to any constraints, a polluted Object.prototype.parseReviver function is called for every key-value pair in every JSON response, allowing the attacker to selectively modify individual values while leaving the rest of the response intact. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.15.2.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Axios versions 1.0.0 to before 1.15.2 contain a Prototype Pollution gadget vulnerability where the transformResponse function passes an unvalidated parseReviver parameter to JSON.parse. Since this parseReviver can be set via Object.prototype pollution, an attacker can inject malicious code that modifies specific JSON response values on-the-fly without altering the overall response structure.

MitigationUpgrade Axios to version 1.15.2 or later to patch the vulnerable transformResponse function.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
AxiosApplication
Affected:>= 1.0.0, < 1.15.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed Axios version
    Run 'npm list axios' or check package.json dependencies to see the exact version of axios installed in your project
    Affected if The version listed is 1.0.0 or higher but lower than 1.15.1 (or 1.15.1 specifically)
  2. Verify transformResponse is in use
    Check your Axios configuration or code for usage of transformResponse. By default, Axios uses transformResponse to parse JSON responses. Search for axios.create() calls or default Axios instance usage that processes JSON responses
    Affected if Your application uses Axios to make requests that receive JSON responses without overriding the default transformResponse function
  3. Inspect the parseReviver configuration
    Check your Axios instance configuration for any custom parseReviver settings. Look for code like axios.create({ transformResponse: [function(data) { ... }] }) or check if reviver is explicitly set in any JSON parsing configuration
    Affected if A custom reviver or parseReviver is defined in your Axios config, or if Object.prototype properties could be accessed as a reviver during JSON parsing in your application
  4. Audit for prototype pollution entry points
    Review your codebase for user-controlled input that could modify Object.prototype (such as improper use of Object.assign, __proto__, or constructor properties). Check any middleware or utilities that handle dynamic object construction from external input
    Affected if Your application allows external input to influence Object.prototype properties that could be picked up by the reviver parameter in JSON.parse

You are affected if your installed Axios version is between 1.0.0 and 1.15.0 (inclusive) and your application uses the default transformResponse to parse JSON responses from external APIs.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.15.1 or later
Fixed in 1.15.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Axios to version 1.15.2 or later to patch the vulnerable transformResponse function.

Recommended fix High confidence

Axios 1.15.2

  1. Upgrade Axios to version 1.15.2 or later to remediate the Prototype Pollution vulnerability in the transformResponse function.
  2. Verify the upgrade by checking the installed Axios version using `npm list axios` or `yarn list axios`.
  3. Test that the application functionality remains intact after the upgrade, particularly any code that relies on JSON response handling.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Axios Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,560
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-42044 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data