### Impact
`fast-uri` accepts a host that contains an unbalanced or misplaced authority bracket (`[` or `]`) without reporting an error. A host that starts with `[` but does not end with `]`, such as `[@127.0.0.1`, is neither validated as an IP literal nor canonicalized as a domain name, so `parse()` returns it as the host with `error` undefined, while Node's `URL` (and `http.get`, `axios`, `got`, and other clients built on it) resolve the same string to `127.0.0.1`. An application that reads `parse().host` to make a host decision (an SSRF denylist, a redirect allowlist, or proxy routing) and then passes the original URL to an HTTP client evaluates its policy against a string that is not the host the request reaches. The same host is carried through `normalize()`, `equal()`, and `resolve()`.
### Patches
This vulnerability has been patched in fast-uri `4.1.4`, `3.1.7`, and `2.4.6`. `parse()` now reports `URI host is malformed.` for any host that contains a bracket but is not a valid `[IPv6]` literal. All users should upgrade.
### Workarounds
If upgrading is not immediately possible, reject any URL whose host contains a `[` or `]` that is not a well-formed IPv6 literal before making a host decision. Clients that fail closed on credential-bearing URLs, such as Node's global `fetch()`, are not affected by the reported vector.