GHSA-fq34-xw6c-fphf is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-799 vulnerability in ethyca-fides. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-fq34-xw6c-fphf is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Fides Webserver API Rate Limiting Vulnerability in Proxied Environments
Real-World Exposure
ethyca-fidesReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
The Fides Webserver API's built-in IP-based rate limiting is ineffective in environments with CDNs, proxies or load balancers. The system incorrectly applies rate limits based on directly connected infrastructure IPs rather than client IPs, and stores counters in-memory rather than in a shared store. This allows attackers to bypass intended rate limits and potentially cause denial of service.
This vulnerability only affects deployments relying on Fides's built-in rate limiting for protection. Deployments using external rate limiting solutions (WAFs, API gateways, etc.) are not affected.
Details
The vulnerability has two components:
- Rate limiting uses the immediate connection source IP instead of the actual client IP
- Rate limit counters are maintained in-memory per container rather than in a shared store
In production environments, these issues allow clients to exceed intended rate limits and enable attackers to trigger rate limits on infrastructure IPs, causing legitimate clients to receive 429 responses.
Impact
This vulnerability affects availability, allowing attackers to:
- Bypass rate limits, potentially leading to resource exhaustion
- Cause a denial of service for legitimate clients by deliberately triggering rate limits on infrastructure IPs
Patches
The vulnerability has been patched in Fides version 2.69.1. Users are advised to upgrade to this version or later to secure their systems against this threat.
Workarounds
There are no application-level workarounds. However, rate limiting may instead be implemented externally at the infrastructure level using a WAF, API Gateway, or similar technology.
Risk Level
This vulnerability has been assigned a severity of MEDIUM.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ethyca-fides | all versions | 2.69.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ethyca-fides. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update ethyca-fides to 2.69.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-fq34-xw6c-fphf is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-fq34-xw6c-fphf is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-fq34-xw6c-fphf. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-fq34-xw6c-fphf in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-fq34-xw6c-fphf across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.