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CVE-2026-23996 Detail

Description

FastAPI Api Key provides a backend-agnostic library that provides an API key system. Version 1.1.0 has a timing side-channel vulnerability in verify_key(). The method applied a random delay only on verification failures, allowing an attacker to statistically distinguish valid from invalid API keys by measuring response latencies. With enough repeated requests, an adversary could infer whether a key_id corresponds to a valid key, potentially accelerating brute-force or enumeration attacks. All users relying on verify_key() for API key authentication prior to the fix are affected. Users should upgrade to version 1.1.0 to receive a patch. The patch applies a uniform random delay (min_delay to max_delay) to all responses regardless of outcome, eliminating the timing correlation. Some workarounds are available. Add an application-level fixed delay or random jitter to all authentication responses (success and failure) before the fix is applied and/or use rate limiting to reduce the feasibility of statistical timing attacks.


Metrics

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CVSS 4.0 Severity and Vector Strings:

NIST CVSS score
NIST: NVD
N/A
NVD assessment not yet provided.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

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URL Source(s) Tag(s)
https://github.com/Athroniaeth/fastapi-api-key/commit/310b2c5c77305f38c63c0b917539a0344071dfd8 GitHub, Inc.
https://github.com/Athroniaeth/fastapi-api-key/releases/tag/1.1.0 GitHub, Inc.
https://github.com/Athroniaeth/fastapi-api-key/security/advisories/GHSA-95c6-p277-p87g GitHub, Inc.

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-ID CWE Name Source
CWE-208 Observable Timing Discrepancy GitHub, Inc.  

Change History

1 change records found show changes

Quick Info

CVE Dictionary Entry:
CVE-2026-23996
NVD Published Date:
01/21/2026
NVD Last Modified:
01/21/2026
Source:
GitHub, Inc.