CVE-2025-64526: @strapi/plugin users permissions Strapi Has A Rate Limit Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-7mqx-wwh4-f9fw",
  "modified" : "2026-05-15T23:44:20Z",
  "published" : "2026-05-13T20:02:15Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-64526" ],
  "summary" : "Strapi has a rate limit bypass on users-permissions plugin via attacker-controlled email keying",
  "details" : "### Summary of CVE-2025-64526 Vulnerability Details\n\n- CVE: CVE-2025-64526\n- CVSS v3.1 Vector: `CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N` (6.9 — Medium)\n- Affected Versions: `@strapi/plugin-users-permissions` <=5.44.0\n- How to Patch: Immediately update your Strapi to >=5.45.0\n\n### Description of CVE-2025-64526\n\nIn 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe patch 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.\n\n### IoC's for CVE-2025-64526\n\nIndicators that an instance running an unpatched version may have been exploited:\n\n- Unusually high volumes of `POST` requests to `/api/auth/local`, `/api/auth/reset-password`, or `/api/auth/change-password` from a single IP within a 5-minute window without 429 (Too Many Requests) responses\n- Request bodies on `/api/auth/local` containing both `identifier` AND `email` fields where `email` varies per request. Body shape regex: `\"identifier\"\\s*:\\s*\"[^\"]*\",\\s*\"email\"\\s*:\\s*\"[^\"]*\"`\n- Request bodies on `/api/auth/reset-password` containing an unexpected `email` field alongside `code`. Body shape regex: `\"code\"\\s*:\\s*\"[^\"]*\",.*\"email\"\\s*:`\n- Server logs showing many distinct rate-limit key prefixes for the same IP+route combination within the rate-limit window\n- Successful authentication or password reset following hundreds of preceding 401/400 responses from the same IP",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "@strapi/plugin-users-permissions"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "5.45.0"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "<= 5.44.0"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/strapi/strapi/security/advisories/GHSA-7mqx-wwh4-f9fw"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-64526"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/strapi/strapi/pull/24818"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/strapi/strapi/commit/5e0d243cba9830e6f791de6a94798bcde51468db"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/strapi/strapi"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/strapi/strapi/releases/tag/v5.45.0"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-307" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-05-13T20:02:15Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-05-14T19:16:29Z"
  }
}