GHSA-62hf-57xw-28j9
Axios: unbounded recursion in toFormData causes DoS via deeply nested request data
Packages
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### Summary
toFormData recursively walks nested objects with no depth limit, so a deeply nested value passed as request data crashes the Node.js process with a RangeError.
### Details
lib/helpers/toFormData.js:210 defines an inner `build(value, path)` that recurses into every object/array child (line 225: `build(el, path ? path.concat(key) : [key])`). The only safeguard is a `stack` array used to detect circular references; there is no maximum depth and no try/catch around the recursion. Because `build` calls itself once per nesting level, a payload nested roughly 2000+ levels deep exhausts V8's call stack.
`toFormData` is the serializer behind `FormData` request bodies and `AxiosURLSearchParams` (used by `buildURL` when `params` is an object with `URLSearchParams` unavailable, see `lib/helpers/buildURL.js:53` and `lib/helpers/AxiosURLSearchParams.js:36`). Any server-side code that forwards a client-supplied object into `axios({ data, params })` therefore reaches the recursive walker with attacker-controlled depth.
The RangeError is thrown synchronously from inside `forEach`, escapes `toFormData`, and propagates out of the axios request call. In typical Express/Fastify request handlers this terminates the running request; in synchronous startup paths or worker threads it can crash the whole process.
### PoC
```js
import toFormData from 'axios/lib/helpers/toFormData.js';
import FormData from 'form-data';
function nest(depth) {
let o = { leaf: 1 };
for (let i = 0; i < depth; i++) o = { a: o };
return o;
}
try {
toFormData(nest(2500), new FormData());
} catch (e) {
console.log(e.name + ': ' + e.message);
}
// RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
```
Server-side reachability example:
```js
// vulnerable proxy pattern
app.post('/forward', async (req, res) => {
await axios.post('https://upstream/api', req.body); // req.body user-controlled
res.send('ok');
});
// attacker POST /forward with {"a":{"a":{"a":... 2500 deep ...}}}
// -> toFormData build() overflows -> request handler crashes
```
Verified on axios 1.15.0 (latest, 2026-04-10), Node.js 20, 3/3 PoC runs reproduce the RangeError at depth 2500.
### Impact
A remote, unauthenticated attacker who can influence an object passed to axios as request `data` or `params` triggers an uncaught RangeError inside the synchronous recursive walker. In server-side applications that proxy or re-send client JSON through axios this crashes the request handler and, in worker/cluster setups, the process. Fix by bounding recursion depth in `toFormData`'s `build` function (reject or throw on depths beyond a configurable limit, e.g. 100) or rewriting the walker iteratively.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.