follow-redirects up to 1.16.0 Sensitive Headers escapeRegex incorrect regex

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in follow-redirects up to 1.16.0. This affects the function escapeRegex of the component Sensitive Headers. This manipulation causes incorrect regex. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-111755. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. There is no exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic was found in follow-redirects up to 1.16.0. Affected by this vulnerability is the function escapeRegex of the component Sensitive Headers. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a incorrect regex vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-185. The product specifies a regular expression in a way that causes data to be improperly matched or compared. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality. The summary by CVE is:

follow-redirects is a Node.js HTTP and HTTPS client wrapper that automatically follows redirects. From 1.16.0 until 1.16.1, escapeRegex leaves valid header-name metacharacters unescaped in sensitiveHeaders. When an application declares a sensitive header whose name contains ^ or | and follows a cross-origin or HTTPS-to-HTTP redirect, unescaped regular-expression metacharacters prevent the generated filter from matching the declared header name, and the credential header is forwarded to an attacker-controlled redirect target. This issue is fixed in version 1.16.1.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-111755 since 10/16/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 367759 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-111755), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 1.16.1 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (367759). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Name

• follow-redirects

Version

• 1.0
• 1.1
• 1.2
• 1.3
• 1.4
• 1.5
• 1.6
• 1.7
• 1.8
• 1.9
• 1.10
• 1.11
• 1.12
• 1.13
• 1.14
• 1.15
• 1.16.0

Website

• Product: https://github.com/follow-redirects/follow-redirects/

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Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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