CVE-2026-40175 is a vulnerability in Axios, the HTTP client for Node.js and browsers, in which unsafe handling of outbound header values can act as a gadget in a broader prototype-pollution attack chain. In affected versions prior to 1.15.0 and 0.3.1, attacker-controlled properties introduced through prototype pollution in a third-party dependency may be inherited during Axios configuration and incorporated into outbound request headers without proper neutralization of carriage return and line feed characters. This can create a header injection primitive in Axios header processing, particularly in the Node.js HTTP adapter, and may be chained into request smuggling or server-side request forgery against internal services. Public reporting also describes potential abuse against cloud metadata services, including IMDSv2-oriented request manipulation. Some reporting disputes practical exploitability in standard Node.js, Bun, and Deno environments because runtime header validation may reject malformed header values before transmission, but the library-level weakness itself was acknowledged and patched by Axios.
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1 valid exploit after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos (4 hidden).
This repository is a self-contained JavaScript PoC environment for CVE-2026-40175, described as an Axios CRLF injection issue in vulnerable Axios versions. It is not a framework module; it is a standalone exploit lab built around Node.js, Docker, nginx, and a mock AWS IMDSv2 service. Structure and purpose: - README.md explains the vulnerability, attack chain, prerequisites, and test scenarios. - docker-compose.yml plus Dockerfile.backend and Dockerfile.imds build a multi-container lab with three services: backend, nginx, and a mock IMDS service. - poc/backend-server.js provides a backend HTTP server on port 3001 that logs requests and exposes /last-request, plus a static server on port 3003 for the browser PoC. - poc/nginx-container.conf configures nginx as an intentionally unsafe open proxy using proxy_pass http://$http_host with resolver 127.0.0.11 and ignore_invalid_headers on, which is central to the SSRF demonstration. - poc/mock-imds.js simulates AWS IMDSv2, including token issuance and fake credential retrieval. - poc/test-axios-adapter-backend.js and poc/test-axios-adapter-nginx.js are Node-based PoCs that use a custom rawSocketAdapter built on net.Socket to bypass normal Node HTTP header validation and send raw HTTP containing CRLF-injected headers. - poc/test-axios-no-adapter.js demonstrates that standard Axios/Node behavior blocks the attack path without the custom adapter. - poc/test-prototype-pollution.js demonstrates a full chain: vulnerable recursive merge -> Object.prototype pollution -> inherited headers -> Axios header serialization -> raw socket transmission -> nginx routing -> SSRF to IMDS. - poc/exploit.html is a browser-facing demonstration comparing standard XHR behavior versus a custom adapter/relay concept; it loads axios 1.14.0 from jsDelivr and is intended to visualize success/failure paths. Main exploit capabilities: 1. CRLF header injection into Axios-managed headers. 2. Construction of raw HTTP requests that preserve embedded CRLF sequences. 3. HTTP request smuggling by appending a second request after the injected header block. 4. SSRF through nginx by controlling the Host header used in proxy_pass http://$http_host. 5. Access to internal metadata-style endpoints, specifically a mock IMDSv2 token endpoint and credential endpoint. 6. Demonstration of prototype pollution as an upstream primitive for injecting malicious headers into Axios configuration. Notable observations: - The exploit is operational rather than merely theoretical because it includes working code for raw socket transmission and a complete lab environment. - The repository is educational and intentionally uses a mock IMDS service with fake credentials rather than real cloud targets. - package.json references scripts for poc/vulnerable-app.js and poc/exploit.js, but those files are not present in the provided file list; the actual usable entry points are the test scripts under poc/. - The browser PoC references a relay on port 3004 in the README/UI, but the shown backend-server.js only implements ports 3001 and 3003; relay functionality may be incomplete or omitted from the provided content.
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54 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
A critical-severity vulnerability in Axios affecting third-party dependencies used in Atlassian products.
Another critical Axios vulnerability mentioned only as part of vendor security history, without technical detail in this reference.
An Axios SSRF vulnerability via protocol-relative URLs, referenced for comparison within Axios's 2026 vulnerability cluster.
A separate Axios prototype pollution vulnerability mentioned as part of the library's 2026 security history.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
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Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.