CVE-2026-61740
LightRAG is Vulnerable to Authentication Bypass: hardcoded DEFAULT_TOKEN_SECRET and public /auth-status defeat LIGHTRAG_API_KEY protection
Impact
LightRAG 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.
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| pip | lightrag-hku | < 1.5.4 | 1.5.4 |
Weakness classification
References
- NVD record
- CVE.org record
- GitHub advisory
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-f4vv-55c2-5789
- https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/security/advisories/GHSA-f4vv-55c2-5789
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-61740
- https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/pull/3319
- https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/commit/f7819aa3a49a9d8d92eed8251d82d6ebcafa8cba
- https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/releases/tag/v1.5.4