CVE-2026-44492 — Vulnerability in axios — CVE Details

### Summary shouldBypassProxy, introduced in v1.15.0 to fix CVE-2025-62718, does not normalise IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses. When NO_PROXY lists an IPv4 address such as `127.0.0.1` or `169.254.169.254`, a request URL using the IPv4-mapped IPv6 form (`::ffff:7f00:1`, `::ffff:a9fe:a9fe`) still routes through the configured proxy. Node.js resolves these addresses to the underlying IPv4 host, so the request reaches the internal service via the proxy rather than being blocked. ### Details lib/helpers/shouldBypassProxy.js (v1.15.0): ```javascript const LOOPBACK_ADDRESSES = new Set(['localhost', '127.0.0.1', '::1']); const isLoopback = (host) => LOOPBACK_ADDRESSES.has(host); // normalizeNoProxyHost strips brackets and trailing dots, but not ::ffff: prefix return hostname === entryHost || (isLoopback(hostname) && isLoopback(entryHost)); ``` The WHATWG URL parser canonicalises `http://[::ffff:127.0.0.1]/` to hostname `[::ffff:7f00:1]`. After bracket-stripping: `::ffff:7f00:1`. This string does not match 127.0.0.1 in NO_PROXY and is not in LOOPBACK_ADDRESSES, so shouldBypassProxy returns false and the proxy is used. proxy-from-env (called before shouldBypassProxy) has the same gap - it does not equate ::ffff:7f00:1 with 127.0.0.1 - so neither layer catches the bypass. ### PoC ```javascript // NO_PROXY=127.0.0.1,localhost,::1 HTTP_PROXY=http://attacker:8080 import shouldBypassProxy from 'axios/lib/helpers/shouldBypassProxy.js'; // All three should return true (bypass proxy). Only the first two do. console.log(shouldBypassProxy('http://127.0.0.1/')); // true [OK] console.log(shouldBypassProxy('http://[::1]/')); // true [OK] console.log(shouldBypassProxy('http://[::ffff:127.0.0.1]/')); // false <- bypass console.log(shouldBypassProxy('http://[::ffff:7f00:1]/')); // false <- bypass ``` Node.js routes ::ffff:7f00:1 to 127.0.0.1: ``` // net.connect({ host: '::ffff:7f00:1', port: 80 }) reaches a service // bound to 127.0.0.1:80 — confirmed on Node.js v24, Linux and macOS. ``` Cloud metadata SSRF: ::ffff:a9fe:a9fe = ::ffff:169.254.169.254. If NO_PROXY=169.254.169.254 is set to block IMDS access, a request to http://[::ffff:a9fe:a9fe]/latest/meta-data/ bypasses it. #### Fix Canonicalise IPv4-mapped IPv6 in normalizeNoProxyHost before any comparison: ```javascript const ipv4MappedDotted = /^::ffff:(\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3})$/i; const ipv4MappedHex = /^::ffff:([0-9a-f]{1,4}):([0-9a-f]{1,4})$/i; function hexToIPv4(a, b) { const hi = parseInt(a, 16), lo = parseInt(b, 16); return `${hi >> 8}.${hi & 0xff}.${lo >> 8}.${lo & 0xff}`; } const normalizeNoProxyHost = (hostname) => { if (!hostname) return hostname; if (hostname[0] === '[' && hostname.at(-1) === ']') hostname = hostname.slice(1, -1); hostname = hostname.replace(/\.+$/, '').toLowerCase(); let m; if ((m = hostname.match(ipv4MappedDotted))) return m[1]; if ((m = hostname.match(ipv4MappedHex))) return hexToIPv4(m[1], m[2]); return hostname; }; ``` ### Impact Any application that sets NO_PROXY to exclude internal or metadata endpoints and uses an HTTP/HTTPS proxy can have those exclusions bypassed by a URL using IPv4-mapped IPv6 notation. The attacker must control the request URL. In cloud environments with instance metadata services, this can lead to credential exfiltration.