CVE-2026-42036
ADVISORY - githubSummary
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:
- Start an HTTP server that returns a 2 MiB response body.
- Call Axios with:
- adapter: 'http'
- responseType: 'stream'
- maxContentLength: 1024
- 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.
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
GitHub
3.9
CVSS SCORE
5.3medium| Package | Type | OS Name | OS Version | Affected Ranges | Fix Versions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| axios | npm | - | - | >=1.0.0,<1.15.1 | 1.15.1 |
| axios | npm | - | - | <=0.31.0 | 0.31.1 |
CVSS:3 Severity and metrics
The CVSS metrics represent different qualitative aspects of a vulnerability that impact the overall score, as defined by the CVSS Specification.
The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone). One example of an Adjacent attack would be an ARP (IPv4) or neighbor discovery (IPv6) flood leading to a denial of service on the local LAN segment (e.g., CVE-2013-6014).
Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success when attacking the vulnerable component.
The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any user.
An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
There is no loss of confidentiality.
There is no loss of trust or accuracy within the impacted component.
Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
NIST
3.9
CVSS SCORE
5.3mediumDebian
-
Ubuntu
-
CVSS SCORE
N/AmediumChainguard
CGA-7hfx-f52c-jx67
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minimos
MINI-2hwr-869m-472h
-
minimos
MINI-8r9c-qvj8-494g
-
minimos
MINI-cvhp-8mgq-xpg2
-
minimos
MINI-q2f5-vqq4-w4mq
-
minimos
MINI-vfh5-3cjw-w3rp
-
minimos
MINI-xw9w-h925-435c
-