CVE-2026-48817

When dispatching a request, HTTPEndpoint selects the handler by lowercasing the HTTP method and looking it up as an attribute with getattr, without restricting the lookup to a known set of HTTP verbs.

When an HTTPEndpoint subclass is registered through Route(...) without an explicit methods= argument, the route does not constrain the method and every method reaches the endpoint. If a non-standard HTTP method whose lowercased name matches an attribute on the endpoint subclass reaches the endpoint, that attribute is invoked as if it were a request handler. An attacker can use this to reach methods that were never meant to be HTTP handlers, such as internal helpers, without the authorization checks applied by the intended public handler.

Details

HTTPEndpoint uses the client-supplied method name to resolve an instance attribute, without validating it against the set of HTTP verbs the endpoint supports. A method such as _DO_DELETE therefore resolves an attribute like _do_delete and invokes it. Non-standard methods are valid RFC 9110 token methods, so an endpoint must not treat the method name as a trusted attribute selector.

Mitigation

Register HTTPEndpoint subclasses with an explicit methods= argument on the Route, listing only the HTTP verbs the endpoint supports. The route then rejects any other method with 405 Method Not Allowed before it reaches the endpoint, so non-standard methods cannot resolve an attribute.

An application is affected when all of the following hold:

• It defines an HTTPEndpoint subclass and registers it via Route(...) without an explicit methods= argument.
• The subclass defines additional methods whose names match a non-standard HTTP-method token shape and that accept a single request argument and return a response.

This also affects frameworks built on Starlette, like FastAPI.

CVE-2026-48817 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.1.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

1. What is CVE-2026-48817? CVE-2026-48817 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in starlette (pip), affecting versions < 1.1.0. It is fixed in 1.1.0.
2. How severe is CVE-2026-48817? CVE-2026-48817 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of starlette are affected by CVE-2026-48817? starlette (pip) versions < 1.1.0 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2026-48817? Yes. CVE-2026-48817 is fixed in 1.1.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2026-48817 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-48817 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2026-48817 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2026-48817? Upgrade starlette to 1.1.0 or later.