Description
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.
Problem types
CWE-807: Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision
Product status
References
github.com/...testar/security/advisories/GHSA-hm36-ffrh-c77c
github.com/...ommit/42a89e043e50b515f8548a93954fe143f63cf9fb
github.com/...c8bb4af6f382/litestar/middleware/rate_limit.py
