# CVE-2026-42041: Axios: Authentication Bypass via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `validateStatus` Merge Strategy

> CVE-2026-42041: Axios: Authentication Bypass via Prototype Pollution Gadget in `validateStatus` Merge Strategy. CVSS 4.8 (CVSS 3.1).

Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2026-42041
Last updated: 2026-09-10T13:20:04Z

- Published: 2026-04-24 17:55 UTC · Updated: 2026-09-10 13:20 UTC · Assigner: GitHub\_M
- CVSS: 4.8 (CVSS 3.1) · Severity: Medium · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
- EPSS: 0.66%, 51th percentile (scored 2026-10-25)
- CISA KEV: no
- CWE: CWE-1321, CWE-287

## Description

Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 1.15.1 and 0.31.1, the Axios library is vulnerable to a Prototype Pollution "Gadget" attack that allows any Object.prototype pollution to silently suppress all HTTP error responses (401, 403, 500, etc.), causing them to be treated as successful responses. This completely bypasses application-level authentication and error handling. The root cause is that validateStatus is the only config property using the mergeDirectKeys merge strategy, which uses JavaScript's in operator — an operator that inherently traverses the prototype chain. When Object.prototype.validateStatus is polluted with () =\> true, all HTTP status codes are accepted as success. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.15.1 and 0.31.1.

## Affected vendors and products

- axios: axios
- Red Hat: Cryostat 4
- Red Hat: Gatekeeper 3
- Red Hat: HawtIO HawtIO 4.4.0
- Red Hat: Migration Toolkit for Applications 8
- Red Hat: multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.1
- Red Hat: multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.11
- Red Hat: OpenShift Pipelines
- Red Hat: OpenShift Service Mesh 3
- Red Hat: Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2
- Red Hat: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14
- Red Hat: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.15
- Red Hat: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.16
- Red Hat: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4.9
- Red Hat: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes 4.10
- Red Hat: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
- Red Hat: Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 2
- Red Hat: Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 3
- Red Hat: Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop - Tech Preview
- Red Hat: Red Hat Data Grid 8.6.1
- Red Hat: Red Hat Discovery 2
- Red Hat: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat: Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3
- Red Hat: Red Hat Fuse 7
- Red Hat: Red Hat Hardened Images
- Red Hat: Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Applications 8.1
- Red Hat: Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
- Red Hat: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
- Red Hat: Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4
- Red Hat: Red Hat Process Automation 7
- Red Hat: Red Hat Trusted Artifact Signer
- Red Hat: Red Hat Trusted Profile Analyzer
- Red Hat: Self-service automation portal 2
- Red Hat: streams for Apache Kafka 2
- Red Hat: streams for Apache Kafka 3

## Tracked companies

- [Bitbucket](https://rewindex.com/company/bitbucket.md)
- [Confluence](https://rewindex.com/company/confluence.md)

## References

- [CVE record on cve.org](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-42041)
- [NVD entry](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42041)
- [https://github.com/axios/axios/security/advisories/GHSA-w9j2-pvgh-6h63](https://github.com/axios/axios/security/advisories/GHSA-w9j2-pvgh-6h63)

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_Sources: CVE records from the CVE Program (cve.org). CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. (https://www.cve.org/) This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. (https://nvd.nist.gov/) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog from CISA. (https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog) EPSS scores from FIRST (Exploit Prediction Scoring System). (https://www.first.org/epss/)_


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Canonical: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2026-42041 · Markdown: https://rewindex.com/cve/CVE-2026-42041.md · JSON: https://rewindex.com/api/v1/cves/CVE-2026-42041 · Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Generated 2026-10-26T02:16:54.583Z