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Axios: Denial of Service via Unhandled 'error' Event in HTTP/2 ClientHttp2Session Initialization

Type: advisorySource: OSV1 source record

## Summary Axios versions with Node.js HTTP/2 support can terminate the caller’s process when a ClientHttp2Session emits an error event that is not handled by axios. This affects applications that use the Node HTTP adapter with httpVersion: 2. A malicious, unavailable, or non-HTTP/2 endpoint can cause an uncaught exception instead of a normal rejected axios request. ## Impact The impact is denial of service. In affected applications, an attacker who can influence the request destination, or operate the destination server, may be able to crash the Node.js process. This does not affect default HTTP/1.1 usage, browser XHR/fetch adapters, or applications that do not enable axios HTTP/2 support. ## Affected Functionality Affected path: - Node.js HTTP adapter - httpVersion: 2 - HTTP/2 session creation/reuse through Http2Sessions - Network/session failures emitted as ClientHttp2Session error events Caller-controlled http2Options can make the issue easier to trigger, but passing arbitrary attacker input into axios config is caller-controlled behavior and should not be the primary advisory framing. ## Technical Details Http2Sessions.getSession() creates a session with http2.connect(authority, options) but only registers a close handler. It does not register an error handler on the returned ClientHttp2Session. When the session emits error, Node treats it as an unhandled EventEmitter error and throws. This can bypass the normal axios Promise rejection path and terminate the process. ##

Announced Group revision 1
Original source ↗

GHSA-542g-h47m-68v8

Primary source · Revision 1

Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.

Security context

Source reference: osv:GHSA-542g-h47m-68v8

axios

Source reference: /affected/0/package/name

Affected versions
Not stated in this record
Fixed versions
1.20.0

Source reference: /affected/0/ranges

Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

Structured affected-version data

Original package identities and version rules from this source.

[
  {
    "ranges": [
      {
        "type": "SEMVER",
        "events": [
          {
            "introduced": "1.13.0"
          },
          {
            "fixed": "1.20.0"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "package": {
      "name": "axios",
      "purl": "pkg:npm/axios",
      "ecosystem": "npm"
    },
    "database_specific": {
      "source": "https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/09/GHSA-542g-h47m-68v8/GHSA-542g-h47m-68v8.json"
    }
  }
]
Related CVEs
CVE-2026-101901

Source reference: /aliases

Publisher severity

high

Source reference: /database_specific/severity

Linked CVE context

These ratings describe the referenced vulnerabilities and products. They are not a severity rating for every application using this dependency.

Event
#37694 · Revision 1
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