GHSA-r2hw-74xv-4gqp is a high-severity (CVSS 7.7) Information Exposure vulnerability in nautobot. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for nautobot — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Nautobot vulnerable to exposure of hashed user passwords via REST API
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-r2hw-74xv-4gqp.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-r2hw-74xv-4gqp plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
nautobotReal-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
Impact
In Nautobot 2.0.x, certain REST API endpoints, in combination with the ?depth=<N> query parameter, can expose hashed user passwords as stored in the database to any authenticated user with access to these endpoints.
The passwords are not exposed in plaintext. Nautobot 1.x is not affected by this vulnerability.
Example:
GET /api/users/permissions/?depth=1
HTTP 200 OK
API-Version: 2.0
Allow: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 1,
"next": null,
"previous": null,
"results": [
{
"id": "28ea85e4-5039-4389-94f1-9a3e1c787149",
"object_type": "users.objectpermission",
"display": "Run Job",
"url": "http://localhost:8080/api/users/permissions/28ea85e4-5039-4389-94f1-9a3e1c787149/",
"natural_slug": "run-job_28ea",
"object_types": [
"extras.job"
],
"name": "Run Job",
"description": "",
"enabled": true,
"actions": [
"run",
"view"
],
"constraints": null,
"groups": [
{
"id": 1,
"object_type": "auth.group",
"display": "A Group",
"url": "http://localhost:8080/api/users/groups/1/",
"natural_slug": "a-group_1",
"name": "A Group"
}
],
"users": [
{
"id": "e73288e2-1326-4bfb-8fea-041290dd7473",
"object_type": "users.user",
"display": "admin",
"url": "http://localhost:8080/api/users/users/e73288e2-1326-4bfb-8fea-041290dd7473/",
"natural_slug": "admin_e732",
"password": "pbkdf2_sha256$260000$jQb7hA48HYJ0MLWQgOZiBl$b72+gz6SpZiRpxceRQfT5Zv/aUac0eJ4NdBTZ8ECOow=",
"last_login": "2023-10-18T14:19:08.780857Z",
"is_superuser": true,
"username": "admin",
"first_name": "",
"last_name": "",
"email": "",
"is_staff": true,
"is_active": true,
"date_joined": "2023-10-18T14:18:55.854023Z",
"config_data": {}
}
]
}
]
}
Note the "password" field present in the nested
"users"data.
This information is not exposed during direct access to the /api/users/users/ endpoint, but can be exposed through any endpoint which contains a nested reference to User object(s) when an appropriate ?depth=<N> query parameter is specified. Known impacted endpoints include:
/api/dcim/rack-reservations/?depth=1(or any greaterdepthvalue)/api/extras/job-results/?depth=1(or any greaterdepthvalue)/api/extras/notes/?depth=1(or any greaterdepthvalue)/api/extras/object-changes/?depth=1(or any greaterdepthvalue)/api/extras/scheduled-jobs/?depth=1(or any greaterdepthvalue)/api/users/permissions/?depth=1(or any greaterdepthvalue)
but this is not necessarily an exhaustive list.
Plugin REST API endpoints for any models with a foreign key to the User model may also be impacted by this issue.
The patch identified below mitigates the issue for both Nautobot core REST APIs and plugin REST APIs; no code change in plugins is required to address this issue.
Patches
Refer to https://github.com/nautobot/nautobot/pull/4692 for the patch that resolved this issue.
Workarounds
Upgrading to v2.0.3 or later, or applying the above patch, is the preferred workaround for this issue; while it could also be partially mitigated by updating permissions to deny user access to the above list of impacted REST API endpoints, that is not recommended as other endpoints may also expose this issue until patched.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | nautobot | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.0.3 | 2.0.3pip install --upgrade 'nautobot==2.0.3' |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for nautobot, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update nautobot to 2.0.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-r2hw-74xv-4gqp 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-r2hw-74xv-4gqp can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-r2hw-74xv-4gqp. 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-r2hw-74xv-4gqp in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-r2hw-74xv-4gqp across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.