CVE-2026-76172

fast-uri is a URI parser for Node.js. During parsing it runs a legacy decoding pass over the scheme component and never re-escapes the result, and serialization writes the scheme back out verbatim, unlike the host component which is re-escaped. As a result an input whose scheme carries percent-encoded slashes parses as a scheme with no authority, so the parsed host and error are both undefined, yet resolving or normalizing that same input emits a network-path reference whose authority is attacker-chosen and re-parses to that host. An application that allowlists on the parsed host, or treats a reference with no authority as safe to resolve against its base, gets the opposite of what it checked, giving an off-site redirect, server-side request forgery, or address-policy bypass. The legacy decoder also expands non-standard escape forms, widening the issue past upstream filters, and control characters in the scheme can reach the output as raw carriage return and line feed. The affected versions are 2.3.1 up to but not including 2.4.5, 3.0.0 up to but not including 3.1.6, and 4.0.0 up to but not including 4.1.3. The issue is fixed in 2.4.5, 3.1.6, and 4.1.3, which reject a scheme that is not valid after decoding. Users should upgrade to a patched version.

Weakness

The product does not properly handle when all or part of an input has been URL encoded.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Assume all input is malicious. Use an “accept known good” input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
• When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, “boat” may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as “red” or “blue.”
• Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code’s environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/120.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/468.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/64.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/72.html

References

• https://cna.openjsf.org/security-advisories.html
• https://github.com/fastify/fast-uri/security/advisories/GHSA-jqff-g426-hqxp