CVE-2026-86818: fast-uri vulnerable to mailto header injection via percent-encoded field-name desynchronization
fast-uri’s mailto scheme parser compares each query field name to the reserved names (to, subject, body) while the name is still percent-encoded, and only percent-decodes it when storing it as a generic header. On serialize, the decoded name is re-emitted, so a field name such as %74o (percent-encoded to) is not recognized as a recipient at parse time (parse().to shows only the legitimate recipient) but materializes as a literal to= field after serialize(), and reparsing then treats it as a recipient. The same technique smuggles subject and body through %73ubject and %62ody.
An application that parses an untrusted mailto URI, makes a display, allowlist, or logging decision on parse().to, then re-serializes the result and passes the serialized string to a mail client or an outbound send path can gain an attacker-chosen recipient, subject, or body that was not visible when the recipient list was checked. A scanner inspecting the raw input for an extra to= sees nothing, because the injected field appears only after fast-uri serializes.
References
- cna.openjsf.org/security-advisories.html
- github.com/advisories/GHSA-jvvf-x445-j334
- github.com/fastify/fast-uri/commit/f40a88f33e684a46faec3f5b820bcbb1e85add64
- github.com/fastify/fast-uri/releases/tag/v4.1.5
- github.com/fastify/fast-uri/security/advisories/GHSA-jvvf-x445-j334
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-86818
Code Behaviors & Features
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