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Fencer Intel
high 7.4

GHSA-9c5c-9qcx-q35q json

@nestjs/platform-fastify: Path-scoped middleware bypass via absolute-form request targets

published last mo. modified last mo.

cvss
7.4
version 3.1, GitHub
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
—
no score, EPSS covers CVEs only
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

| Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Ecosystem | npm | | Package | `@nestjs/platform-fastify` | | Affected versions | `>= 12.0.0, < 12.0.2` and `< 11.2.4` | | Patched versions | `12.0.2` and `11.2.4` (upgrade to `12.0.3` / `11.2.5`) |

### Summary

On the Fastify adapter, an HTTP request that uses an **absolute-form request target** (`GET http://host/path HTTP/1.1` instead of `GET /path HTTP/1.1`) reaches the route handler without running the path-scoped Nest middleware bound to that route. Applications that enforce authentication or authorization in middleware execute the protected handler with those checks skipped.

### Impact

Any application that

- uses `@nestjs/platform-fastify`, and - binds middleware to specific paths via `MiddlewareConsumer.forRoutes(...)` or `.exclude(...)`, and - is reachable by a client that controls the raw request line.

Node's HTTP server accepts absolute-form targets, so no special server configuration is needed. Exposure is reduced when a reverse proxy in front of the application rewrites the request target to origin-form, which most do.

Where the bypassed middleware performs authentication or authorization, the result is an authentication or authorization bypass. Where it performs logging, rate limiting or body handling, those are silently skipped instead.

### Details

Fastify's router (`find-my-way`) resolves an absolute-form target to its path before matching, so the route handler is dispatched normally. Two places on the middleware side matched against the **raw** request target instead:

1. The bundled copy of the `@fastify/middie` engine at `packages/platform-fastify/adapters/middie/fastify-middie.ts`. NestJS carried this fork to apply an earlier path-decoding fix and it did not track the upstream absolute-form fix released in `@fastify/middie@9.3.4`. 2. `FastifyAdapter`'s own re-check in `createMiddlewareFactory()`, which tests the middleware path regexp against `req.originalUrl`.

Both normalized and percent-decoded the target, but neither resolved absolute-form to a path, so the router and the middleware layer disagreed about which path was being requested.

A second, related defect contributed. Because the adapter always passes `routerOptions` (to install the version constraint), Fastify did not reflect the deprecated **top-level** router options (`ignoreTrailingSlash`, `ignoreDuplicateSlashes`, `caseSensitive`, `useSemicolonDelimiter`) in `initialConfig.routerOptions`, which is what the middleware engine reads. Applications passing those options at the top level had middleware normalize paths differently from the router, which widened the mismatch.

### Proof of concept

```ts @Controller('users') export class UsersController { @Get() findAll() { return 'protected data'; } }

@Module({ controllers: [UsersController] }) export class AppModule implements NestModule { configure(consumer: MiddlewareConsumer) { consumer .apply((req, res) => res.end('blocked by auth middleware')) .forRoutes({ path: 'users', method: RequestMethod.GET }); } } ```

`supertest` and `light-my-request` always emit origin-form targets, so the request has to be written to the socket:

```js const { connect } = require('node:net');

const socket = connect(3000, '127.0.0.1', () => { socket.write( 'GET http://127.0.0.1:3000/users HTTP/1.1\r\n' + 'Host: 127.0.0.1:3000\r\n' + 'Connection: close\r\n\r\n', ); }); socket.pipe(process.stdout); ```

Observed on an affected version: `protected data` — the middleware did not run. Expected, and observed on a patched version: `blocked by auth middleware`.

### Patches

Fixed in **12.0.2** and **11.2.4**. Upgrading to **12.0.3** or **11.2.5** is recommended.

- The bundled `@fastify/middie` fork was removed and the package now depends on `@fastify/middie@9.3.4`, which resolves absolute-form targets before matching. - The adapter resolves absolute-form targets in its own route check, mirroring `find-my-way`. - Deprecated top-level Fastify router options are folded into `routerOptions` so the middleware engine and the router normalize paths identically.

### Workarounds

If you cannot upgrade, reject non-origin-form request targets before middleware runs. Register the hook on the Fastify instance **before the application is initialized**, so that it runs ahead of the middleware engine's own `onRequest` hook, and confirm with the request above that the rejection takes effect:

```ts const adapter = new FastifyAdapter(); adapter.getInstance().addHook('onRequest', (request, reply, done) => { const target = request.raw.url ?? ''; // "*" is the legitimate request target of "OPTIONS * HTTP/1.1" if (target[0] !== '/' && target !== '*') { reply.code(400).send(); return; } done(); }); ```

Rejecting or normalizing absolute-form targets at a reverse proxy in front of the application is equally effective.

### Credit

Reported by ZeroVuln Labs.

Patch / fix

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CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
GitHub 3.1 7.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
npm @nestjs/platform-fastify
<11.2.4
>=12.0.0, <12.0.2
11.2.4
12.0.2

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-288 Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
  • CWE-436 Interpretation Conflict

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

The maintainers of nestjs/nest published their own advisory on GitHub. Reviewed sources take precedence over it.