Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XSummary
CVE-2026-42039 is a medium-severity Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) vulnerability in Axios Axios. Its CVSS base score is 6.9 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Network Denial of Service (T1498); ranked in the top 49% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-10 (Concurrent Session Control) and SC-6 (Resource Availability) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-42039 affects Axios, a promise-based HTTP client library used in browsers and Node.js environments. In versions prior to 1.15.1 (for the 1.x branch) and 0.31.1 (for the 0.x branch), the `toFormData` function recursively traverses nested objects without any depth limitation. When a deeply nested object is passed as request data, this unbounded recursion triggers a RangeError, causing the Node.js process to crash. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion) with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating high-impact availability disruption.
A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by crafting and sending HTTP requests containing deeply nested objects as form data to any application relying on a vulnerable Axios version in a Node.js backend. No user interaction or privileges are required, and exploitation is straightforward over the network with low complexity. Successful exploitation results in a denial-of-service condition, as the targeted Node.js process terminates abruptly due to the stack overflow from recursion.
The official GitHub security advisory (GHSA-62hf-57xw-28j9) confirms the issue and states that it is fully remediated by upgrading to Axios 1.15.1 or 0.31.1, which introduce recursion depth limits in the `toFormData` function. Security practitioners should audit dependencies, prioritize updates for Node.js applications using Axios, and consider input validation on request data as an interim measure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-25605
Vulnerability Data
Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 1.15.1 and 0.31.1, toFormData recursively walks nested objects with no depth limit, so a deeply nested value passed as request data crashes the Node.js process with…
more
a RangeError. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.15.1 and 0.31.1.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V15.4.4
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly enforces a hard limit on concurrent sessions, structurally preventing unbounded resource allocation.
Requires explicit allocation of resources by priority or quota, directly stopping unlimited allocation.
Input validation can reject or constrain data that would otherwise drive unbounded recursive calls.
Imposes a limit on consecutive invalid attempts, preventing one specific class of unbounded resource consumption.
DoS protection mechanisms limit the resource-exhaustion impact of uncontrolled recursion without eliminating the flaw.
System monitoring can observe anomalous resource consumption that signals runaway recursion after it begins.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Monitoring capacity and taking action to maintain availability directly reduces unchecked resource allocation.
Secure SDLC practices directly prevent coding errors such as missing recursion limits or termination conditions.
Runtime monitoring of compute resources can detect excessive consumption caused by uncontrolled recursion.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover and record uncontrolled recursion flaws before deployment.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Baseline comparison of CPU, memory and bandwidth usage helps surface uncontrolled resource allocations before they cause service degradation.
Security testing in development can detect excessive recursion via static analysis or fuzzing.
Capacity projections and elasticity measures ensure that allocation requests are bounded and can be throttled, reducing the window in which an attacker can force unbounded resource reservations.
Defining retention periods and deletion schedules for backup copies prevents indefinite accumulation of data on storage media without corresponding resource-management controls.
Architectural redundancy and automatic failover limit the impact of an attacker who forces excessive allocations, because spare capacity can absorb the load until the primary instance recovers.
Secure development life cycle requires controls that prevent uncontrolled recursion through design and code review.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
- V-248552 OL 8 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770
- V-248553 OL 8 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic are terminated after 10 minutes of becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
- V-271710 OL 9 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic are terminated after 10 minutes of becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770
- V-271709 OL 9 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230244 RHEL 8 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive. prevents CWE-770