Label Studio has Hardcoded Django SECRET_KEY that can be Abused to Forge Session Tokens

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

9.8 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

• CVE-2023-43791: 1.24% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 69.21 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Introduction This write-up describes a vulnerability found in Label Studio, a popular open source data labeling tool. The vulnerability was found to affect versions before 1.8.2, where a patch was introduced. Overview In Label Studio version 1.8.1, a hard coded Django SECRETKEY was set in the application settings. The Django SECRETKEY is used for signing session tokens by the web application framework, and should never be shared with unauthorised parties. However, the Django framework inserts a authuserhash claim in the session token that is a HMAC hash of the account's password hash. That claim would normally prevent forging a valid Django session token without knowing the password hash of the account. However, any authenticated user can exploit an Object Relational Mapper (ORM) Leak vulnerability in Label Studio to leak the password hash of any account on the platform, which is reported as a separate vulnerability. An attacker can exploit the ORM Leak vulnerability (which was…

Published by the source

9 Nov 2023, 14:42 UTC

Last modified by the source

22 Nov 2024, 18:03 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 13:27 UTC

1. Revision 2 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-f475-x83m-rx5m

2. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-f475-x83m-rx5m

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-43791

Advisory: Label Studio has Hardcoded Django `SECRET_KEY` that can be Abused to Forge Session Tokens
IDs: CVE-2023-43791, GHSA-f475-x83m-rx5m
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-43791 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 13:27 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Critical (CVSS 9.8)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: label-studio 1.8.2. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- PyPI label-studio: affected < 1.8.2; fixed in 1.8.2

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `python -m pip show label-studio`: prints the installed version. Run with the environment that serves production active.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on label-studio.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-f475-x83m-rx5m (OSV record GHSA-f475-x83m-rx5m lists affected ranges: PyPI label-studio >=0 <1.8.2 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-f475-x83m-rx5m (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-f475-x83m-rx5m lists affected ranges: PyPI label-studio >=0 <1.8.2)

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