tiangolo/fastapi · error · HTTPException

Inactive user

Error message

Inactive user

What it means

Default-parameter variant of error 50: `get_current_active_user` raises HTTP 400 'Inactive user' when `current_user.disabled` is True, after the JWT has been decoded and the user fetched. Runtime semantics are identical to the Annotated version.

Source

Thrown at docs_src/security/tutorial004_py310.py:114

        headers={"WWW-Authenticate": "Bearer"},
    )
    try:
        payload = jwt.decode(token, SECRET_KEY, algorithms=[ALGORITHM])
        username = payload.get("sub")
        if username is None:
            raise credentials_exception
        token_data = TokenData(username=username)
    except InvalidTokenError:
        raise credentials_exception
    user = get_user(fake_users_db, username=token_data.username)
    if user is None:
        raise credentials_exception
    return user


async def get_current_active_user(current_user: User = Depends(get_current_user)):
    if current_user.disabled:
        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Inactive user")
    return current_user


@app.post("/token")
async def login_for_access_token(
    form_data: OAuth2PasswordRequestForm = Depends(),
) -> Token:
    user = authenticate_user(fake_users_db, form_data.username, form_data.password)
    if not user:
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=status.HTTP_401_UNAUTHORIZED,
            detail="Incorrect username or password",
            headers={"WWW-Authenticate": "Bearer"},
        )
    access_token_expires = timedelta(minutes=ACCESS_TOKEN_EXPIRE_MINUTES)
    access_token = create_access_token(
        data={"sub": user.username}, expires_delta=access_token_expires
    )

View on GitHub (pinned to 42a41db11f)

Solutions

1. Authenticate as an active user.
2. Set `disabled` to `False` for the resolved user.
3. Show a clear disabled-account message; do not retry.

Example fix

# before
# JWT for a disabled user => 400
# after
# JWT for an active user => 200

None

def is_inactive(resp) -> bool:
    return getattr(resp, 'status_code', None) == 400 and resp.json().get('detail') == 'Inactive user'

try:
    me = client.get('/users/me/', headers=auth_header(token))
    me.raise_for_status()
except httpx.HTTPStatusError as e:
    if e.response.status_code == 400 and e.response.json().get('detail') == 'Inactive user':
        prompt_reactivation()
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: `GET /users/me/` with a valid JWT whose user has `disabled: True`.

Common situations: Account deactivated while JWTs remain valid; flag not reset on reactivation; identical to the Annotated twin.

Related errors

• Inactive user
• Inactive user
• Inactive user
• Inactive user
• Inactive user

AI-assisted analysis of tiangolo/fastapi@42a41db11f (2026-08-04). Data as JSON: /data/errors/8c93c3ab373f4bff.json. Report an issue: GitHub.