Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-61740

Auth Bypass

Auth BypassExposed Creds
Published
15 July 2026
Modified
15 July 2026
CVSS Score v4 9.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0040 33th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-61740 is a critical-severity Improper Authentication (CWE-287) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 9.3 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Unsecured Credentials (T1552); ranked at the 33th 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 IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) and IA-3 (Device Identification and Authentication) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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,…

more

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.

CWE(s)
CWE-287CWE-798

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1552 Unsecured Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1552.001 Credentials In Files Credential Access
Adversaries may search local file systems and remote file shares for files containing insecurely stored credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
attack.mitre.org →
T1078.001 Default Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of a default account as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
attack.mitre.org →
T1133 External Remote Services Persistence
Adversaries may leverage external-facing remote services to initially access and/or persist within a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-28503Shared CWE-287, CWE-798
CVE-2026-37270Shared CWE-287, CWE-798
CVE-2025-52376Shared CWE-287, CWE-798
CVE-2025-68926Shared CWE-287, CWE-798
CVE-2025-57434Shared CWE-287, CWE-798
CVE-2024-1039Shared CWE-287, CWE-798
CVE-2023-31279Shared CWE-287
CVE-2026-56353Shared CWE-287
CVE-2024-49039Shared CWE-287
CVE-2025-3850Shared CWE-287

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 8 hardening rules · 5 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.4.4
  • V6.5.4
  • V6.5.5
  • V6.5.7

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

IA-2 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) good match

Mandates unique identification and authentication of organizational users before access, directly stopping improper authentication.

IA-3 Device Identification and Authentication good match

Requires unique identification and authentication of devices before establishing connections, preventing unauthenticated device claims.

IA-8 Identification and Authentication (Non-organizational Users) good match

Mandates unique identification and authentication of non-organizational users, directly addressing the weakness for external actors.

IA-5 Authenticator Management good match

Manages authenticators with verification and secure distribution, reducing opportunities for improper authentication.

SC-12 Cryptographic Key Establishment and Management good match

Cryptographic key management mandates proper establishment and handling instead of embedding keys in code.

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

Enforces access only after approved authorizations, which presupposes correct authentication has occurred.

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.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-03 directly enforces authentication mechanisms that eliminate most improper-authentication defects, yet CWE-287 spans additional vectors (missing checks, flawed protocols, session handling) that one control does not fully close.

PR.AA-04 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-04 directly enables verification of identity assertions (mostly preventing CWE-287 in that scope) yet leaves many other authentication failure modes unaddressed (only partial prevention overall).

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-01 supplies and governs credentials/tokens that authentication relies on, removing some weak-credential cases, yet leaves verification logic, missing checks, and protocol flaws untouched.

PR.AA-02 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-02 ensures valid enrollment and unique credential binding, which reduces some improper-auth risks at issuance time but leaves runtime claim verification untouched, so each direction only partially addresses the other.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

PR.PS-01 can enforce auth-related settings via hardened baselines and default reviews, blocking some config-based instances of CWE-287, yet leaves code-level auth flaws untouched so neither direction reaches mostly.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate some known auth vulnerabilities after deployment (partial forward) but does not address the design or implementation of authentication logic itself (none reverse).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

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

A.8.5 Secure authentication full match
prevents

Requiring authentication methods whose strength matches the sensitivity of the data and mandating multi-factor authentication directly blocks attempts to access resources without proving identity.

A.5.17 Authentication information mostly match
prevents

Verifying user identity before issuing replacement credentials and forcing changes after compromise reduces the likelihood that authentication bypass can be achieved through stolen or weak credentials.

A.5.16 Identity management partial match
prevents

Mandating segregated approval and oversight for non-human identities reduces the chance that weak or orphaned credentials can be exploited for unauthorized authentication.

A.6.3 Information security awareness, education and training partial match
prevents

Education on secure configuration practices discourages technical staff from embedding or relying on hard-coded credentials in systems and applications.

A.8.21 Security of network services partial match
mitigates

Requiring authentication mechanisms and technical parameters for secure connections ensures that network services verify user identity before granting access, preventing exploitation of missing or weak authentication.

A.8.24 Use of cryptography partial match
mitigates

Secure key-generation, distribution and storage procedures reduce the likelihood that hard-coded or default cryptographic keys will be introduced or left unprotected.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-287
RHEL 7 (3 rules)
  • V-204425 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that the SSH daemon does not allow authentication using an empty password. prevents CWE-287
  • V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-287
  • V-204424 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords. prevents CWE-287
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230492 RHEL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-287
Ubuntu 22.04 (1 rule)
  • V-260470 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, when booted, must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-287
Ubuntu 24.04 (2 rules)
  • V-270675 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS when booted must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-287
  • V-270714 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must not allow accounts configured in Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) with blank or null passwords. prevents CWE-287

References