---
id: CVE-2026-85725
title: LightRAG provides simple and fast retrieval-augmented generation
summary: >-
  LightRAG provides simple and fast retrieval-augmented generation. Prior to
  1.5.5, verify_password in lightrag/api/passwords.py compares plaintext
  AUTH_ACCOUNTS password values with Python's == operator. The comparison can
  return after th…
severity: medium
cvss: 5.9
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-208
vendor: HKUDS
product: LightRAG
affected:
  - LightRAG < 1.5.5
patched:
  - lightrag-hku 1.5.5
published: '2026-09-22'
updated: '2026-09-26'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-26T00:16:37.513'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-85725'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/commit/89849c3ed0e0380345a6b5bade027cfb9a5bf32c
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/pull/3423'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/releases/tag/v1.5.5'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/security/advisories/GHSA-c759-cx9p-mrwq'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG/security/advisories/GHSA-c759-cx9p-mrwq'
    label: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-85725'
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-c759-cx9p-mrwq'
  - url: 'https://github.com/HKUDS/LightRAG'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
  - ghsa
  - pip
  - osv
exploitAvailable: true
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-25T23:42:45.536883Z'
epss: 0.00359
epssPercentile: 0.26969
aliases:
  - GHSA-c759-cx9p-mrwq
ecosystem: pip
ingestedAt: '2026-09-22T17:07:07.384Z'
---

## Overview

LightRAG provides simple and fast retrieval-augmented generation. Prior to 1.5.5, verify_password in lightrag/api/passwords.py compares plaintext AUTH_ACCOUNTS password values with Python's == operator. The comparison can return after the first mismatching byte, creating response-time differences based on password length and matching prefixes. A network attacker with sufficiently low-latency access can repeatedly query the /login endpoint and use the timing oracle to recover a plaintext-configured password character by character. Deployments using bcrypt-prefixed password values are not affected by this comparison path. This issue is fixed in version 1.5.5.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Package advisory (CVE-2026-85725)

Affected packages:

- `lightrag-hku <= 1.5.4`

Patched in:

- `lightrag-hku 1.5.5`

Source: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-c759-cx9p-mrwq