LightRAG: Authentication bypass: hardcoded DEFAULT_TOKEN_SECRET and public /auth-status defeat LIGHTRAG_API_KEY protection

Summary

CVECVE-2026-61740
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-07-15 15:16:48 UTC
Updated2026-07-15 18:15:13 UTC
DescriptionLightRAG provides simple and fast retrieval-augmented generation. Prior to 1.5.4, when LightRAG is deployed with LIGHTRAG_API_KEY set but AUTH_ACCOUNTS unset, X-API-Key protection can be bypassed because lightrag/api/auth.py falls back to a hardcoded DEFAULT_TOKEN_SECRET, /auth-status and /login can mint guest JWTs, and combined_dependency in lightrag/api/utils_api.py accepts a valid guest token before checking the API key. A remote unauthenticated attacker can call endpoints guarded by combined_auth, including document read, upload, deletion, graph mutation, and query endpoints. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.5.4.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v4.0 9.3 CRITICAL from [email protected]

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Problem Types: CWE-287 | CWE-798 | CWE-287 CWE-287: Improper Authentication | CWE-798 CWE-798: Use of Hard-coded Credentials


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
4.0[email protected]Secondary9.3CRITICALCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/C...
4.0CNADECLARED9.3CRITICALCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS v4.0 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
Low
Sub Conf.
None
Sub Integrity
None
Sub Availability
None

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA HKUDS LightRAG affected < 1.5.4 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/releases/tag/v1.5.4 [email protected] github.com
github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/pull/3319 [email protected] github.com
github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/commit/f7819aa3a49a9d8d92eed8251d82d6ebcafa8cba [email protected] github.com
github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/security/advisories/GHSA-f4vv-55c2-5789 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 github.com
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