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Vulnerability Intelligence Report
@fastify/express vulnerable to Improper Handling of URL Encoding (Hex Encoding)

CVE-2026-22037

The @fastify/express plugin adds full Express compatibility to Fastify. A security vulnerability exists in @fastify/express prior to version 4.0.3 where middleware registered with a specific path prefix can be bypassed using URL-encoded characters (e.g., `/%61dmin` instead of `/admin`). While the middleware engine fails to match the encoded path and skips execution, the underlying Fastify router correctly decodes the path and matches the route handler, allowing attackers to access protected endpoints without the middleware constraints. The vulnerability is caused by how @fastify/express matches requests against registered middleware paths. This vulnerability is similar to, but differs from, CVE-2026-22031 because this is a different npm module with its own code. Version 4.0.3 of @fastify/express contains a patch fort the issue.

No Active Exploit Signals
CVSS Base Score
8.4
HIGH
Exploitability:1.8
Impact Score:6.0
EPSS Probability:0.32%
Executive Threat Verdict
Evaluating...
Evaluating Threat Landscape...
Assessing known weaponization, exploitation telemetry, and federal advisories.
Attack Surface
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Authentication
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Weaponization
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SSVC Action
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Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-177 ↗CWE-177: Improper Handling of URL Encoding (Hex Encoding)
CWE-288 ↗CWE-288: Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel

Affected Products & Versions

Vendor Product Affected Versions
fastify fastify-express < 4.0.3 (affected)

References & Technical Advisories

No reference links found.

Threat Intelligence Signals

EPSS Score
0.321%

Identity & Timeline

StatusPUBLISHED
Assigning AuthorityGitHub, Inc. · Vendor · USA
Reserved2026-01-05T22:30:38
Published2026-01-19T16:48:10
Last Updated2026-01-20T21:34:44

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