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Medium

Axios: HTTP adapter streamed responses bypass maxContentLength

  • Disclosed: 05.05.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Summary

When responseType: 'stream' is used, Axios returns the response stream without enforcing maxContentLength. This bypasses configured response-size limits and allows unbounded downstream consumption.

Details

In lib/adapters/http.js:

  • 786-789: for responseType === 'stream', Axios immediately settles with the stream.
  • 797-810: maxContentLength enforcement exists only in the non-stream buffering branch.

So callers may set maxContentLength and still receive/read arbitrarily large streamed responses.

PoC

Environment:

  • Axios main at commit f7a4ee2
  • Node v24.2.0

Steps:

  1. Start an HTTP server that returns a 2 MiB response body.
  2. Call Axios with:
    • adapter: 'http'
    • responseType: 'stream'
    • maxContentLength: 1024
  3. Read the returned stream fully.

Observed:

  • Success; full 2097152 bytes readable.

Control check:

  • Same endpoint with responseType: 'text' and same maxContentLength: rejected with maxContentLength size of 1024 exceeded.

Impact

Type: DoS / unbounded response processing. Impacted: Node.js applications relying on maxContentLength as a safety boundary while using streamed Axios responses.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
npm package axios >= 1.0.0, < 1.15.1, < 0.31.1 1.15.1, 0.31.1

References

CVSS score 5.3/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-770
Platform
npm
Package
axios
Disclosed
05.05.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-vf2m-468p-8v99 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: axios

All published vulnerabilities of this package (npm package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (55) in the archive
Total entries
55
First → latest
05.2019 09.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 25
  • Medium 28
  • Low 2

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. Axios: Node HTTP adapter prototype-pollution gadget allows request socket hijack via inherited createConnection
    High CVE-2026-101905 >= 1.15.2, < 1.20.0 1.20.0
  2. Axios: maxRedirects: 0 is not enforced by the fetch adapter, allowing redirect-based SSRF
    High CVE-2026-101907 >= 1.17.0, < 1.20.0 1.20.0
  3. Axios: ReDoS in fromDataURI data: URL parser freezes the Node event loop (DoS)
    High CVE-2026-101903 >= 1.16.1, < 1.20.0 1.20.0
  4. Axios: ReDoS (O(N²)) in shouldBypassProxy host normalization, reachable via untrusted redirect Location
    High CVE-2026-101906 >= 1.15.0, < 1.20.0 1.20.0
  5. Axios: Prototype Pollution Gadget in axios toFormData Options
    High CVE-2026-101909 >= 0.28.0, < 0.34.0, >= 1.15.1, < 1.20.0 0.34.0, 1.20.0
  6. Axios: HTTP/2 adapter bypasses configured DNS lookup and proxy controls
    High CVE-2026-101898 >= 1.13.0, < 1.20.0 1.20.0
  7. Axios: Denial of Service via Unhandled 'error' Event in HTTP/2 ClientHttp2Session Initialization
    High CVE-2026-101901 >= 1.13.0, < 1.20.0 1.20.0
  8. Axios Node HTTP adapter can use an inherited proxy after interceptor config cloning
    High CVE-2026-67320 >= 0.31.1, < 0.33.0, >= 1.15.2, < 1.18.0 0.33.0, 1.18.0
  9. Axios: Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) via Cookie Name Injection
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-44496 >= 1.0.0, < 1.16.0, < 0.32.0 1.16.0, 0.32.0
  10. Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in Axios
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-44488 >= 1.7.0, < 1.16.0 1.16.0
  11. Axios: Proxy-Authorization Credential Leak to Origin Server Across HTTP-to-HTTPS Redirect in Axios Node.js HTTP Adapter
    High CVE-2026-44487 >= 1.0.0, < 1.16.0, < 0.32.0 1.16.0, 0.32.0
  12. Axios: Proxy-Authorization header leaks to redirect target when proxy is re-evaluated to direct connection
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-44486 >= 1.0.0, < 1.16.0, < 0.32.0 1.16.0, 0.32.0
  13. axios Vulnerable to Credential Theft and Response Hijacking via Prototype Pollution Gadget in Config Merge
    High · 7.0 CVE-2026-44495 >= 1.0.0, < 1.15.2, >= 0.19.0, < 0.31.1 1.15.2, 0.31.1
  14. axios Vulnerable to Full Man-in-the-Middle via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `config.proxy`
    High · 8.7 CVE-2026-44494 >= 1.0.0, < 1.16.0 1.16.0
  15. axios's shouldBypassProxy does not recognize IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses, allowing NO_PROXY bypass (incomplete fix for CVE-2025-62718)
    High · 8.6 CVE-2026-44492 >= 1.15.0, < 1.16.0, < 0.32.0 1.16.0, 0.32.0
  16. Axios: HTTP adapter streamed responses bypass maxContentLength this entry
    Medium · 5.3 CVE-2026-42036 >= 1.0.0, < 1.15.1, < 0.31.1 1.15.1, 0.31.1
  17. Axios: Prototype Pollution Gadgets - Response Tampering, Data Exfiltration, and Request Hijacking
    High · 7.4 CVE-2026-42033 >= 1.0.0, < 1.15.1, < 0.31.1 1.15.1, 0.31.1
  18. Axios: Header Injection via Prototype Pollution
    High · 7.4 CVE-2026-42035 >= 1.0.0, < 1.15.1, < 0.31.1 1.15.1, 0.31.1
  19. Axios: Incomplete Fix for CVE-2025-62718 — NO_PROXY Protection Bypassed via RFC 1122 Loopback Subnet (127.0.0.0/8) in Axios 1.15.0
    High · 7.2 CVE-2026-42043 >= 1.0.0, < 1.15.1, < 0.31.1 1.15.1, 0.31.1
  20. Axios has prototype pollution read-side gadgets in HTTP adapter that allow credential injection and request hijacking
    High · 7.4 CVE-2026-42264 >= 1.0.0, < 1.15.2 1.15.2
Show more (6) Showing 20 of 26

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