CVE-2025-64526 Strapi has a rate limit bypass on users-permissions plugin via attacker-controlled email keying
An attacker can bypass rate limiting on authentication routes by manipulating the email field, enabling brute-force attacks against credentials.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-64526?
CVE-2025-64526 is a medium-severity vulnerability in @strapi/plugin-users-permissions, published on 14 May 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official 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.
Weakness: CWE-307
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-64526?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including @strapi/plugin-users-permissions. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
@strapi/plugin-users-permissions npm | All versions | 5.45.0 |
@strapi/plugin-users-permissions npm | All versions | 5.45.0 |
Products include Strapi Strapi.
How do I fix CVE-2025-64526?
Upgrade @strapi/plugin-users-permissions to 5.45.0 or later.
Is CVE-2025-64526 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-64526 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in @strapi/plugin-users-permissions
- CVE-2023-22894 Strapi Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information
- CVE-2023-22621 Strapi plugins vulnerable to Server-Side Template Injection and Remote Code Execution in the Users-Permissions Plugin
- CVE-2022-27263 Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type in Strapi
- CVE-2020-27664 Authorization bypass in Strapi
- CVE-2019-18818 Strapi allows unauthenticated attacker to reset admin password without valid reset token
Sources
Also known as GHSA-7mqx-wwh4-f9fw.