vulnerability / NVI-00016430 / Revision 1
PraisonAI: [Auth Bypass] `praisonai serve agents --api-key` is silently ignored — agent-invocation routes (`POST /agents`, `POST /agents/{agent_name}`) run unauthenticated
GitHub lists this reviewed advisory for PraisonAI. Published version ranges and source prerequisites are shown below; this is not an inspection of a visitor’s application.
This report has not inspected your inventory, configuration, deployed build, reachability or evidence. A catalog listing and a severity score do not establish exposure or compromise.
01 / Meaning
Why it matters
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7.3 high
GitHub source severity; exploitability and local consequence require separate evidence.
As of · GitHub Advisory Database
02 / Applicability
The affected context
Affected versions, configuration prerequisites and known exclusions are public. Confirm each one against the deployed service.
PraisonAI
source listed< 4.6.58
### Summary `praisonai serve agents` exposes HTTP routes that invoke registered agents. The CLI advertises `--api-key` with help text "API key for authentication", parses it, and forwards it into `ServeHandler`. But `_create_agents_app()` **never reads `config["api_key"]` again** and installs no auth dependency or middleware on its direct routes. The configured key is a no-op flag. As a result, an unauthenticated network caller can invoke exposed agents (`POST /agents` and `POST /agents/{agent_name}`) even when the operator passed `--api-key`. Requests with no credentials, a wrong `Authorization: Bearer`, a wrong `X-API-Key`, or an empty bearer all reach `agent.start()`. The failure is made sharper by the fact that a **working auth dependency already exists in the same module** — `praisonai.api.agent_invoke.verify_token` guards every `/api/v1/...` route with `Depends(verify_token)` and is mounted into the very same app. The direct n8n-compat routes simply do not use it. ## Technical Detail ### Source-to-sink trace **1. CLI advertises and forwards `--api-key`:** ```python # cli/commands/serve.py @app.command("agents") def serve_agents(..., api_key: Optional[str] = typer.O
03 / Response
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- investigate
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04 / Limits
What this report cannot establish
- Customer inventory, deployment, reachability and exploitation have not been inspected.
05 / Provenance
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- GHSA-r7v3-x45f-g7hp ↗
GitHub Advisory Database · vendor advisory
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- Revision 1 ·
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