X-Forwarded-For Header Spoofing Bypasses Litestar Rate Limiting

published 2025-10-06 13 mo ago modified 2026-10-19 20 d ago also EUVD-2025-32146 , GHSA-hm36-ffrh-c77c , PYSEC-2026-1553

cvss: 7.5; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.5%; EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 42%
public exploits: 0; none known

Litestar is an Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface (ASGI) framework. In version 2.17.0, rate limits can be completely bypassed by manipulating the X-Forwarded-For header. This renders IP-based rate limiting ineffective against determined attackers. Litestar's RateLimitMiddleware uses `cache_key_from_request()` to generate cache keys for rate limiting. When an X-Forwarded-For header is present, the middleware trusts it unconditionally and uses its value as part of the client identifier. Since clients can set arbitrary X-Forwarded-For values, each different spoofed IP creates a separate rate limit bucket. An attacker can rotate through different header values to avoid hitting any single bucket's limit. This affects any Litestar application using RateLimitMiddleware with default settings, which likely includes most applications that implement rate limiting. Version 2.18.0 contains a patch for the vulnerability.

Patch / fix

fixed in 2 links 1

pypi litestar 2.18.0
litestar litestar 2.18.0

github.com/litestar-org/litestar@42a89e0 commit

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: Proof of concept is public
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 13 mo ago (2025-10-06)

Exploit prediction

0.48% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 42% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
GitHub	3.1	7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
OSV	3.1	7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
pypi	litestar	>=2.17.0, <2.18.0	2.18.0

Affected products

litestar-org litestar

Classification

Weakness

CWE-807 Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.

Summary