# LiteLLM CVE-2026-42208 — Critical SQL Injection in AI Gateway Exploited Within 36 Hours of Disclosure

> A critical SQL injection in the most popular open-source AI gateway let attackers steal every LLM API key stored in the database.

- Org: LiteLLM
- Date: 2026-04-29
- Category: security
- Source: https://thehackernews.com/2026/04/litellm-cve-2026-42208-sql-injection.html
- Canonical page: https://ai-tldr.dev/releases/litellm-cve-2026-42208-sql-injection/

## In short

Unauthenticated SQL injection in LiteLLM's API key validation (CVSS 9.3) dumped OpenAI, Anthropic, and AWS Bedrock credentials from any exposed gateway. Patched April 19; first exploit 36 hours after advisory — with schema-aware payloads targeting credential tables.

## What it is

CVE-2026-42208 is a CVSS 9.3 SQL injection in LiteLLM (versions before 1.83.7-stable) affecting the API key validation logic in its routing layer.

## How it works

LiteLLM concatenated the user-supplied Authorization header directly into SQL queries without parameterization. Remote, unauthenticated attackers could send a crafted bearer token to endpoints like POST /chat/completions, extract the full litellm_credentials table, and harvest all stored LLM provider API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, and others), plus runtime configuration.

## Why it matters

LiteLLM is used by thousands of enterprises as their AI gateway, aggregating keys for multiple providers. A single exploit grants access to 'an entire cloud account's worth of credentials.' The first exploitation in the wild occurred April 26 — just 26-36 hours after the GitHub advisory was indexed — with attackers targeting specific credential tables indicating prior knowledge of LiteLLM's schema.

## Who it's for

Any team running LiteLLM as an AI proxy must immediately upgrade to 1.83.7-stable or higher and rotate all API keys stored in the database.

## Links

- [The Hacker News](https://thehackernews.com/2026/04/litellm-cve-2026-42208-sql-injection.html)
- [Sysdig exploitation analysis](https://www.sysdig.com/blog/cve-2026-42208-targeted-sql-injection-against-litellms-authentication-path-discovered-36-hours-following-vulnerability-disclosure)
- [LiteLLM security advisory](https://docs.litellm.ai/blog/cve-2026-42208-litellm-proxy-sql-injection)
- [CyberSecureFox analysis](https://cybersecurefox.com/en/litellm-cve-2026-42208-sql-injection-ai-gateway/)