fast-uri vulnerable to host confusion via unchecked WHATWG host canonicalization

### Impact `fast-uri` versions `>= 2.4.2, <= 2.4.7`, `>= 3.1.3, <= 3.1.8`, and `>= 4.0.1, <= 4.2.2` can silently rewrite the host of an HTTP-family URL (`http`, `https`, `ws`, `wss`, or any scheme with `domainHost: true`). For those schemes `canonicalizeHost()` passes the parsed host to the WHATWG `URL` parser and adopts its `.hostname` without checking that the parser read the whole input as a host. RFC 3986 permits `@` inside the host group and the WHATWG parser strips TAB, LF, and CR, so the authority `fast-uri` reports is rewritten by that second parser with no `error` set: data before an `@` is dropped and whitespace is removed. For example, `fast-uri` parses `http://a@[email protected]/` to host `evil.example` (dropping the `b` segment), and a host containing a raw TAB, CR, or LF has those characters stripped. `equal()` then treats a whitespace-smuggled host as the same as the clean one, and `resolve()` rewrites the authority the same way. Applications that use `fast-uri` to enforce host-based policy (denylists, loopback filtering, redirect validation, outbound proxy routing) on one representation, such as the raw input, see a policy/use desync: the canonical host `fast-uri` returns differs from what was checked, and traffic can be steered to an unintended destination. ### Patches Upgrade to `fast-uri` `2.4.8`, `3.1.9`, or `4.2.3`. ### Workarounds Reject URIs whose authority contains more than one `@`, or contains TAB, CR, or LF, before calling `fast-uri`. Alternatively, treat any non-empty `parse(x).error` as fatal, and compare hosts only from the same `parse()` result.

Source published

23 Oct 2026 21:37:59 UTC

Source modified

23 Oct 2026 21:45:04 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:17:17 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

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CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Publisher rating · MODERATE