CVE-2026-54738
MediumCVSS 6.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk36th percentile - higher than 36% of all known CVEs
Summary
Lemmy before versions 0.19.19 and 1.0.0-beta.1 uses the first X-Forwarded-For value as the client address for rate limiting. The bundled nginx config appends the real client address to a client-supplied value, allowing an attacker to spoof the address and bypass limits on multiple API endpoints.
Risk Assessment
Bypassing rate limits enables excessive account creation, brute-force attempts, spam, scraping, uploads, and repeated imports, potentially overloading the system and compromising data integrity.
Recommendation
Update Lemmy to version 0.19.19 or 1.0.0-beta.1, which fixes the X-Forwarded-For handling.
Other vulnerabilities in Lemmy
See all- CVE-2026-29178High
Lemmy, a link aggregator and forum for the fediverse, is vulnerable to server-side request forgery via a dependency on activitypub_federation. Prior to version 0.19.16, the GET /api/v4/image/{filename} endpoint is vulnerable to unauthenticated SSRF through parameter injection in the file_type query parameter. An attacker can inject arbitrary query parameters into the internal request to pict-rs, including the proxy parameter which causes pict-rs to fetch arbitrary URLs.
- CVE-2026-54743Medium
Lemmy-ui before version 0.19.19-beta.1 renders Markdown without sanitization, allowing HTML injection and JavaScript execution in the lemmy-ui origin. An approved member or a remote federated instance can store malicious content, and a viewer who renders it may execute script, potentially exposing the viewer's session and authenticated actions.
- CVE-2026-54741Medium
Lemmy before versions 0.19.19 and 1.0.0-alpha.18 does not check the block list when editing private messages. A blocked sender can still edit old messages that the recipient can see, enabling post-block harassment.
- CVE-2026-54740Medium
Lemmy before versions 0.19.19 and 1.0.0-alpha.18 allows a lower-ranked moderator to remove a higher-ranked moderator by sending a signed ActivityPub Remove activity. The verification does not check moderator rank, enabling a junior moderator to strip senior moderators from the community moderator list.
- CVE-2026-54739Medium
Lemmy before versions 0.19.19 and 1.0.0-beta.1 returns different errors during login depending on whether the username or email exists. A nonexistent account returns 404, while an existing account with a wrong password returns 400. This discrepancy allows an unauthenticated attacker to confirm registered usernames or email addresses.
- CVE-2026-54742Medium
Lemmy, a link aggregator and forum for the fediverse, versions 0.19.18 to 0.19.19 and 1.0.0-alpha.20, allows a community moderator to feature or unfeature posts in other communities via federated CollectionAdd and CollectionRemove activities. Lack of verification that the post belongs to the community enables manipulation of other communities' content.
Original NVD description (English source)
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.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS