Hono IPv4 address validation bypass in IP Restriction Middleware allows IP spoofing

Summary

IP Restriction Middleware in Hono is vulnerable to an IP address validation bypass. The IPV4_REGEX pattern and convertIPv4ToBinary function in src/utils/ipaddr.ts do not properly validate that IPv4 octet values are within the valid range of 0-255, allowing attackers to craft malformed IP addresses that bypass IP-based access controls.

Details

The vulnerability exists in two components:

1. Permissive regex pattern: The IPV4_REGEX (/^[0-9]{0,3}\.[0-9]{0,3}\.[0-9]{0,3}\.[0-9]{0,3}$/) accepts octet values greater than 255 (e.g., 999).
2. Unsafe binary conversion: The convertIPv4ToBinary function does not validate octet ranges before performing bitwise operations. When an octet exceeds 255, it overflows into adjacent octets during the bit-shift calculation.

For example, the IP address 1.2.2.355 is accepted and converts to the same binary value as 1.2.3.99:

• 355 = 256 + 99 = 0x163
• After bit-shifting: (1 << 24) + (2 << 16) + (2 << 8) + 355 = 0x01020363 = 1.2.3.99

Impact

An attacker can bypass IP-based restrictions by crafting malformed IP addresses:

• Blocklist bypass: If 1.2.3.0/24 is blocked, an attacker can use 1.2.2.355 (or similar) to bypass the restriction.
• Allowlist bypass: Requests from unauthorized IP ranges may be incorrectly permitted.

This is exploitable when the application relies on client-provided IP addresses (e.g., X-Forwarded-For header) for access control decisions.

Affected Components

• IP Restriction Middleware
• src/utils/ipaddr.ts: IPV4_REGEX, convertIPv4ToBinary, distinctRemoteAddr