CVE-2026-54738 (CVSS 6.5)

Description

Lemmy is a link aggregator and forum for the fediverse. Prior to 0.19.19 and 1.0.0-beta.1, actix-web ConnectionInfo::realip_remote_addr reads the first value of X-Forwarded-For as the client address used by raw_ip_key in crates/utils/src/rate_limit/mod.rs. Lemmy's bundled docker/nginx.conf uses $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for instead of $remote_addr, which appends the real client address to an X-Forwarded-For value supplied by the client. An unauthenticated attacker can therefore place a different spoofed address first on each request and receive a new rate-limit bucket, bypassing limits on POST /api/v4/account/auth/register, POST /api/v4/account/auth/login, POST /api/v4/post, POST /api/v4/comment, GET /api/v4/search, POST /api/v4/image, and POST /api/v4/account/import_settings. This permits excessive account creation, brute-force attempts, spam, scraping, uploads, and repeated imports. This issue is fixed in versions 0.19.19 and 1.0.0-beta.1.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

6.5

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0043

Probability of exploitation

0.36%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-799 CWE-799

References

Other References

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/commit/41513c89ceecee719bff05acfe613e3b1e85f23c https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/commit/8b5b2aa78417b53ff3622c01f5bed2f1590f3b82 https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/pull/6574 https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/pull/6575 https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/releases/tag/0.19.19 https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/releases/tag/1.0.0-beta.1 https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/security/advisories/GHSA-2hrg-7x4g-9vpg https://join-lemmy.org/news/2026-06-09_-_Lemmy_Release_v0.19.19

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-54738? +

Lemmy is a link aggregator and forum for the fediverse. Prior to 0.19.19 and 1.0.0-beta.1, actix-web ConnectionInfo::realip_remote_addr reads the first value of X-Forwarded-For as the client address used by raw_ip_key in crates/utils/src/rate_limit/mod.rs. Lemmy's bundled docker/nginx.conf uses $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for instead of $remote_addr, which appends the real client address to an X-Forwarded-For value supplied by the client. An unauthenticated attacker can therefore place a different spoofed address first on each request and receive a new rate-limit bucket, bypassing limits on POST /api/v4/account/auth/register, POST /api/v4/account/auth/login, POST /api/v4/post, POST /api/v4/comment, GET /api/v4/search, POST /api/v4/image, and POST /api/v4/account/import_settings. This permits excessive account creation, brute-force attempts, spam, scraping, uploads, and repeated imports. This issue is fixed in versions 0.19.19 and 1.0.0-beta.1. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-54738? +

CVE-2026-54738 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance. The EPSS score is 0.0043, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-54738? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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