[pentest] Admin key endpoint has no rate limiting or lockout (offline brute force possible) #66

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opened 2026-09-09 14:10:09 +00:00 by poslop · 0 comments
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GET /admin/api/settings requires X-Admin-Key (401 without). Ten rapid guesses with different keys all returned 401 with no 429, delay, or lockout - unlike paste creation which rate limits at ~1/s.

Also, password unlock latency for pastes is ~3ms flat (no bcrypt/argon2 timing), suggesting password hashes may be stored with a fast hash or plaintext; combined with unthrottled admin attempts, online brute force is practical.

Repro: for i in 1..10: curl -H "X-Admin-Key: wrong$i" /admin/api/settings -> all 401, no throttling.

`GET /admin/api/settings` requires `X-Admin-Key` (401 without). Ten rapid guesses with different keys all returned 401 with no 429, delay, or lockout - unlike paste creation which rate limits at ~1/s. Also, password unlock latency for pastes is ~3ms flat (no bcrypt/argon2 timing), suggesting password hashes may be stored with a fast hash or plaintext; combined with unthrottled admin attempts, online brute force is practical. Repro: `for i in 1..10: curl -H "X-Admin-Key: wrong$i" /admin/api/settings` -> all 401, no throttling.
poslop added spent time 25 seconds 2026-09-09 14:15:15 +00:00
poslop added the In Progress label 2026-09-09 14:15:30 +00:00
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Reference: poslop/palette#66