CVE-2026-84961: Cert Validation Flaw (CVSS 7.4)

Description

undici's BalancedPool constructor passes its entire options object through an internal deep-clone that serializes and reparses the value as JSON. Because JSON cannot represent functions, any function-valued TLS option, such as a caller-supplied checkServerIdentity callback or a custom connector inside the connect option, is silently discarded before it reaches the TLS layer. As a result a peer whose certificate the application's custom checkServerIdentity was written to reject, but which still passes Node's default hostname and chain checks, is accepted when reached through BalancedPool. The Client, Pool, and Agent dispatchers are not affected because they extract the connect and tls options before cloning. This affects undici versions from 7.24.1 up to 7.29.1 and from 8.0.0 up to 8.10.2, and only when the application supplies a function-valued connect or tls option to BalancedPool. Users should upgrade to undici 7.29.1 or 8.10.2.

Is your site exposed to CVE-2026-84961?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

7.4

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0015

Probability of exploitation

0.04%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-295 CWE-295

References

Other References

https://cna.openjsf.org/security-advisories.html https://github.com/nodejs/undici/security/advisories/GHSA-w293-vg96-wgc3

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-84961? +

undici's BalancedPool constructor passes its entire options object through an internal deep-clone that serializes and reparses the value as JSON. Because JSON cannot represent functions, any function-valued TLS option, such as a caller-supplied checkServerIdentity callback or a custom connector inside the connect option, is silently discarded before it reaches the TLS layer. As a result a peer whose certificate the application's custom checkServerIdentity was written to reject, but which still passes Node's default hostname and chain checks, is accepted when reached through BalancedPool. The Client, Pool, and Agent dispatchers are not affected because they extract the connect and tls options before cloning. This affects undici versions from 7.24.1 up to 7.29.1 and from 8.0.0 up to 8.10.2, and only when the application supplies a function-valued connect or tls option to BalancedPool. Users should upgrade to undici 7.29.1 or 8.10.2. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.4 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2026-84961? +

CVE-2026-84961 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.4 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching. The EPSS score is 0.0015, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-84961? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-44700

Elixir WebRTC is an Elixir implementation of the W3C WebRTC API. Prior to 0.15.1 and 0.16.1, missing DTLS peer certificate …

CVE-2025-9291

A certification validation weakness exists in communication between affected Omada devices and cloud controllers. Certificate identity verification does not adequately …

CVE-2026-0277

An improper certificate validation vulnerability in the Prisma® Access Agent for iOS enables an attacker to perform a man-in-the-middle (MitM) …

CVE-2025-3463

"This issue is limited to motherboards and does not affect laptops, desktop computers, or other endpoints." An insufficient validation vulnerability …

CVE-2025-5279

When the Amazon Redshift Python Connector is configured with the BrowserAzureOAuth2CredentialsProvider plugin, the driver skips the SSL certificate validation step …

CVE-2025-34066

An improper certificate validation vulnerability exists in AVTECH IP cameras, DVRs, and NVRs due to the use of wget with …

CVE-2026-84961