Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-23996

Athroniaeth Fastapi Api Key ≤ 1.1.0

Published
21 January 2026
Modified
27 February 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 3.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0026 18th percentile
Risk Priority 32 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-23996 is a low-severity Observable Timing Discrepancy (CWE-208) vulnerability in Athroniaeth Fastapi Api Key. Its CVSS base score is 3.7 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Password Guessing (T1110.001); ranked at the 18th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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…

more

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.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1110.001 Password Guessing Credential Access
Adversaries with no prior knowledge of legitimate credentials within the system or environment may guess passwords to attempt access to accounts.
T1087 Account Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of valid accounts, usernames, or email addresses on a system or within a compromised environment.
T1087.001 Local Account Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of local system accounts.
T1087.002 Domain Account Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of domain accounts.
T1087.003 Email Account Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of email addresses and accounts.
T1087.004 Cloud Account Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of cloud accounts.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-41418Shared CWE-208
CVE-2024-39329Shared CWE-208
CVE-2024-45191Shared CWE-208
CVE-2026-25597Shared CWE-208
CVE-2026-54685Shared CWE-208
CVE-2026-40972Shared CWE-208
CVE-2025-59058Shared CWE-208
CVE-2026-33006Shared CWE-208
CVE-2026-33129Shared CWE-208
CVE-2025-59350Shared CWE-208

Affected Assets

athroniaeth
fastapi api key
≤ 1.1.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

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Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

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Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V11.2.4

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing can include timing analysis or side-channel test cases that reveal observable timing discrepancies.

Engineering principles can mandate constant-time algorithms and side-channel resistance so timing discrepancies are never introduced.

Requiring approved cryptographic modules and algorithms implicitly demands implementations free of observable timing leaks.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require constant-time implementations that eliminate observable timing discrepancies.

References