Strapi has a rate limit bypass on users-permissions plugin via attacker-controlled email keying

Description

Strapi is an open source headless content management system. In Strapi versions prior to 5.45.0, the rate-limit middleware in the users-permissions plugin derived its rate-limit key in part from `ctx.request.body.email`, including on routes whose body schema does not contain an `email` field (`/auth/local`, `/auth/reset-password`, `/auth/change-password`). An unauthenticated attacker could include an arbitrary `email` value in the request body to obtain a fresh rate-limit key per request, effectively bypassing per-IP throttling on those routes and enabling high-volume credential brute-force, password-reset code brute-force, and credential-stuffing attempts. The rate-limit key was constructed as `${userIdentifier}:${requestPath}:${ctx.request.ip}`, where `userIdentifier = ctx.request.body.email`. On routes that legitimately use email as their identifier (e.g. `/auth/forgot-password`, `/auth/local/register`), this scoping is correct. On routes that use a different identifier (`identifier` for login, `code` for password reset, `currentPassword` for password change), the email field was not part of the route contract, but the middleware still incorporated it into the key, allowing a caller to rotate the value and obtain a unique key on every request. The patch in version 5.45.0 maintains an allow-list of routes that legitimately key on the email field and excludes that key component on every other route the middleware is mounted on. OAuth callback paths (`/connect/*`) are treated identifier-less. On routes outside the allow-list, the middleware now falls back to a fixed identifier-less key, ensuring per-IP throttling remains effective even when the request body is attacker-controlled.

Timeline

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.49% · top 57% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.9.

Weakness

• CWE-307: Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-307 and its CVEs

Affected products

• strapi · strapi

  • affected < 5.45.0

• strapi · @strapi/plugin-users-permissions

  • affected < 5.45.0

Affected packages

From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.

• npm@strapi/plugin-users-permissionsGHSA-7mqx-wwh4-f9fw (opens in a new tab)

References (4)

• https://github.com/strapi/strapi/security/advisories/GHSA-7mqx-wwh4-f9fw (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRM
• https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/24818 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
• https://github.com/strapi/strapi/commit/5e0d243cba9830e6f791de6a94798bcde51468db (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
• https://github.com/strapi/strapi/releases/tag/v5.45.0 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisory GHSA-7mqx-wwh4-f9fw (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2025-64526](https://trackcve.app/badge/CVE-2025-64526.svg)](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2025-64526)

Record last updated 16 May 2026, 00:49 UTC.