Medium severity · published May 13, 2026
CVE-2026-44572
Next.js: Middleware / Proxy redirects can be cache-poisoned
5.9
CVSS
0.3%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Next.js is a React framework for building full-stack web applications. From 12.2.0 to before 15.5.16 and 16.2.5, an external client could send a x-nextjs-data header on a normal request to a path handled by middleware that returns a redirect. When that happened, the middleware/proxy could treat the request as a data request and replace the standard Location redirect header with the internal x-nextjs-redirect header. Browsers do not follow x-nextjs-redirect, so the response became an unusable redirect for normal clients. If the application was deployed behind a CDN or reverse proxy that caches 3xx responses without varying on this header, a single attacker request could poison the cached redirect response for the affected path. Subsequent visitors could then receive a cached redirect response without a Location header, causing a denial of service for that redirect path until the cache entry expired or was purged. This vulnerability is fixed in 15.5.16 and 16.2.5.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.3% · higher than 21% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
NE
next.js · vercel
>= 12.2.0, < 15.5.16; >= 16.0.0, < 16.2.5 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44572
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-44572
Mitigation
https://github.com/vercel/next.js/security/advisories/GHSA-3g8h-86w9-wvmq
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