GHSA-p44q-vqpr-4xmg
MEDIUMGHSA-p44q-vqpr-4xmg is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Improper Authentication vulnerability in flask-httpauth. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-p44q-vqpr-4xmg is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Flask-HTTPAuth invokes token verification callback when missing or empty token was given by client
Blast Radius
flask-httpauthReal-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
In a situation where the client makes a request to a token protected resource without passing a token, or passing an empty token, Flask-HTTPAuth would invoke the application's token verification callback function with the token argument set to an empty string. If the application had any users in its database with an empty string set as their token, then it could potentially authenticate the client request against any of those users.
Notes
- This issue applies only to token authentication
- This issue applies only when the application verifies tokens by searching for them in a user database.
- This issue applies only if the application stores empty strings as user tokens when the user does not have an assigned token. It does not apply if the application sets those tokens to
NULLinstead. - Tokens that are verified through cryptographic means (such as JWTs) are not affected by this issue.
- Basic and Digest authentication are not affected by this issue.
Remediation
To protect against this issue, developers should make sure that no user in the user database has their token set to an empty string. If there are such users, change the value of those tokens to NULL instead.
Alternatively, developers can upgrade their projects to Flask-HTTPAuth>=4.8.1, which fixes this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | flask-httpauth | all versions | 4.8.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for flask-httpauth. 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 flask-httpauth to 4.8.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-p44q-vqpr-4xmg 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-p44q-vqpr-4xmg 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-p44q-vqpr-4xmg. 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-p44q-vqpr-4xmg in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-p44q-vqpr-4xmg across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.