HighPublic exploit

Prototype Pollution Gadget in Axios HTTP Adapter Leading to MITM

IdentifiersCVE-2026-44494CWE-1321· Improperly Controlled Modification…

CVE-2026-44494 affects Axios from 1.0.0 before 1.16.0. The vulnerability is a prototype-pollution gadget in the Node.js HTTP adapter. According to the provided content, lib/adapters/http.js around line 670 reads config.proxy using normal property access, which traverses the prototype chain. Because proxy is not defined as an own property in Axios defaults, the merged configuration object may inherit an attacker-controlled proxy value from Object.prototype when the surrounding application or one of its dependencies is already vulnerable to prototype pollution. Once this inherited proxy value is consumed by setProxy(), Axios routes outbound HTTP requests through the attacker-controlled proxy, turning an existing Object.prototype pollution condition elsewhere in the dependency tree into a practical traffic interception primitive.

For your environment

Are you exposed to this one?

Mallory correlates every CVE against your assets, your vendors, and active adversary campaigns. Know which vulnerabilities matter for you, not just which ones are loud.

Start free trial

ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can escalate an existing Object.prototype pollution issue into a full man-in-the-middle position over Axios-generated outbound HTTP traffic. An attacker can intercept, read, and modify HTTP requests, including authentication credentials, cookies, headers, request bodies, and other sensitive data sent through Axios. This can also enable tampering with requests in transit and broader compromise of backend-to-backend communications.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate upgrade is not possible, reduce exposure by preventing prototype pollution in the application and dependencies, validating and sanitizing untrusted object merges, and hardening code paths that may write to Object.prototype or proto. Where feasible, explicitly set an own proxy property in Axios request configuration or defaults to avoid inherited prototype-chain values being consumed. Restrict outbound egress so application hosts cannot freely connect to attacker-controlled proxy endpoints, and monitor for unexpected proxy configuration or anomalous outbound HTTP routing.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade Axios to version 1.16.0 or later, which fixes this issue according to the provided content. If a supported parallel branch is in use, apply the vendor-recommended patched release referenced in the advisory context. In addition, identify and remediate any prototype pollution vulnerabilities in the application and its dependency tree, since this Axios flaw is described as a gadget that relies on prior Object.prototype pollution.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

7 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

7 SOURCESView more in app

security online infoNews

Jun 4, 2026

Axios Proxy Vulnerabilities & Prototype Pollution Gadget

An Axios vulnerability in the backend file adapter that enables escalation of Object.prototype pollution into a full man-in-the-middle attack, allowing interception and modification of outgoing HTTP requests and exposure of sensitive authentication data.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

Start free trial

Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity6

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES

MITRE CVE

cve.org · CVE-2026-44494

NVD

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44494

MITRE CWE · CWE-1321

Improperly Controlled Modification of Object…

github.com

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