CVE-2026-18174

@fastify/forwarded vulnerable to improper input validation via unstripped tab characters in X-Forwarded-For

MEDIUM
5.3
CVSS Score
Published: July 29, 2026 at 01:46 PM UTC
Updated: August 5, 2026 at 03:34 PM UTC
2 products affected across 1 vendorFastify /forwardedForwarded

Using @fastify/forwarded by @fastify/forwarded?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect @fastify/forwarded - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
MEDIUM5.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

@fastify/forwarded resolves client addresses from the X-Forwarded-For header. In versions before 3.0.2, when the header contains two or more comma separated entries, the parser trims only space characters and does not strip horizontal tabs, even though RFC 7230 defines optional whitespace as both space and tab. As a result, an entry padded with a tab keeps the literal tab in the resolved address string. Applications that make exact string match security decisions on the resolved client IP, such as an allowlist, a blocklist, a per IP rate limit key, or audit log correlation, can be evaded because the tab corrupted string no longer matches the expected value. This does not cross the trust boundary, since a tab corrupted string is not a valid IP and cannot be mistaken for a trusted proxy. The issue is fixed in @fastify/forwarded 3.0.2.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 3.0.2
Vendor states this is fixed in 3.0.2 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (2)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

5.3MEDIUMopenjs
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-20CWE-184

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card