Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-44494

Axios 1.0.0 – 1.16.0

Public PoC
Published
11 June 2026
Modified
13 August 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.010 61th percentile
Risk Priority 63 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-44494 is a high-severity Confused Deputy (CWE-441) vulnerability in Axios Axios. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Proxy (T1090); ranked in the top 39% 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-16 (Security and Privacy Attributes) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access ControlA08:2025 Software or Data Integrity Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. From 1.0.0 to before 1.16.0, the Axios library is vulnerable to a Prototype Pollution "Gadget" attack that allows any Object.prototype pollution in the application's dependency tree to be…

more

escalated into a full Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack — intercepting, reading, and modifying all HTTP traffic including authentication credentials. The HTTP adapter at lib/adapters/http.js:670 reads config.proxy via standard property access, which traverses the prototype chain. Because proxy is not present in Axios defaults, the merged config object has no own proxy property, making it trivially injectable via prototype pollution. Once injected, setProxy() routes all HTTP requests through the attacker's proxy server. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.16.0.

CWE(s)
CWE-441CWE-1321CWE-915

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1090 Proxy Command And Control
Adversaries may use a connection proxy to direct network traffic between systems or act as an intermediary for network communications to a command and control server to avoid direct connections to their infrastructure.
attack.mitre.org →
T1090.002 External Proxy Command And Control
Adversaries may use an external proxy to act as an intermediary for network communications to a command and control server to avoid direct connections to their infrastructure.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1090.001 Internal Proxy Command And Control
Adversaries may use an internal proxy to direct command and control traffic between two or more systems in a compromised environment.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-42044Same product: Axios Axios
CVE-2026-42264Same product: Axios Axios
CVE-2026-42033Same product: Axios Axios
CVE-2026-42041Same product: Axios Axios
CVE-2026-40175Same product: Axios Axios
CVE-2026-44490Same product: Axios Axios
CVE-2026-42035Same product: Axios Axios
CVE-2026-44489Same product: Axios Axios
CVE-2026-42043Same product: Axios Axios
CVE-2025-62718Same product: Axios Axios

Affected Assets

axios
axios
1.0.0 — 1.16.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V15.3.6
  • V3.2.1
  • V3.5.1
  • V3.5.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-16 Security and Privacy Attributes good match

Associating and preserving security attributes such as original source identity prevents the loss of provenance that creates the confused deputy.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

Enforces authorizations so that only permitted attributes may be modified on an object.

AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement good match

Information flow enforcement requires preserving and checking source attributes before forwarding requests outside the trust boundary.

AC-6 Least Privilege good match

Limits the set of modifiable attributes a subject is authorized to touch.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Validates incoming attribute names and values so that only explicitly allowed fields are accepted for update.

SC-7 Boundary Protection partial match

Boundary protection limits and inspects external forwarding, reducing the ability of an intermediary to act as an unintended proxy.

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.

PR.AA-04 mostly match
prevents

Proper conveyance and verification of original identity assertions directly prevents loss of request source when forwarding.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and safe property assignment to prevent prototype pollution.

PR.AA-05 partial match
prevents

Enforcing least-privilege authorizations on forwarded requests reduces confused-deputy abuse even if source identity is lost.

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.

A.8.28 Secure coding mostly match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe dynamic attribute assignment and require property allow-lists.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development catches prototype-pollution flaws before release.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Access-control rules can limit which upstream identities may cause the product to act on their behalf, reducing confused-deputy risk.

A.5.16 Identity management partial match
prevents

Proper identity management ensures the original requester identity is preserved and validated before the product forwards requests.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
degrades

Explicit access-rights assignment can restrict the product’s ability to act as an unintended proxy for external actors.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights partial match
degrades

Privileged-access controls limit the rights the product may exercise on behalf of upstream callers, mitigating confused-deputy abuse.

References