diff --git a/litellm/proxy/auth/internal_auth_endpoints.py b/litellm/proxy/auth/internal_auth_endpoints.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a9e4bde48d4
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+++ b/litellm/proxy/auth/internal_auth_endpoints.py
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+"""
+Internal data-plane auth endpoints.
+
+This module exposes the authentication seam used by the Rust ai-gateway
+(the data plane). The Rust gateway terminates client connections and needs to
+validate the virtual keys it receives WITHOUT reimplementing LiteLLM's key
+validation logic. Instead, it calls back into this Python control plane to
+verify a key and get the resolved ``UserAPIKeyAuth`` object.
+
+Security model:
+  - These endpoints are gated by a DEDICATED data-plane secret
+    (``LITELLM_DATA_PLANE_KEY``), NOT the proxy master key. The data plane is a
+    distinct trust boundary from proxy admins, so it gets its own credential
+    that can be rotated independently and never grants admin access.
+  - The data-plane key is compared in constant time to avoid leaking the secret
+    via timing side-channels.
+"""
+
+import hmac
+import os
+from typing import Any, Dict, Optional
+
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, Request
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+DATA_PLANE_KEY_ENV_VAR = "LITELLM_DATA_PLANE_KEY"
+DATA_PLANE_KEY_HEADER = "X-LiteLLM-Data-Plane-Key"
+
+
+def require_data_plane_key(request: Request) -> None:
+    """
+    FastAPI dependency that authenticates a request from the Rust data plane.
+
+    Reads the ``X-LiteLLM-Data-Plane-Key`` header and compares it, in constant
+    time, against the ``LITELLM_DATA_PLANE_KEY`` environment variable.
+
+    This is intentionally a SEPARATE secret from ``LITELLM_MASTER_KEY`` — the
+    data plane is its own trust boundary and must not be granted master-key
+    privileges.
+
+    Raises:
+        HTTPException 500: if ``LITELLM_DATA_PLANE_KEY`` is unset/empty
+            (misconfiguration — fail closed rather than allow unauthenticated
+            access).
+        HTTPException 401: if the header is missing or does not match.
+    """
+    expected_key: Optional[str] = os.getenv(DATA_PLANE_KEY_ENV_VAR)
+    if not expected_key:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail="data-plane auth not configured")
+
+    provided_key: Optional[str] = request.headers.get(DATA_PLANE_KEY_HEADER)
+    if not provided_key or not hmac.compare_digest(provided_key, expected_key):
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=401, detail="invalid data-plane key")
+
+
+class VerifyKeyRequest(BaseModel):
+    api_key: str
+
+
+router = APIRouter()
+
+
+@router.post(
+    "/internal/v1/auth/verify",
+    dependencies=[Depends(require_data_plane_key)],
+)
+async def verify_key(body: VerifyKeyRequest, request: Request) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    """
+    Verify a virtual key on behalf of the Rust ai-gateway (data plane).
+
+    The Rust gateway forwards the client's virtual key here; this delegates to
+    the proxy's existing ``user_api_key_auth`` validation and returns the
+    resolved ``UserAPIKeyAuth`` as JSON so the data plane can enforce the same
+    limits the control plane would.
+
+    Gated by ``require_data_plane_key`` (the dedicated data-plane secret, not
+    the master key).
+
+    On any auth failure the response is a 401 with a minimal body so internals
+    are not leaked to the caller.
+    """
+    from litellm.proxy._types import ProxyException
+    from litellm.proxy.auth.user_api_key_auth import user_api_key_auth
+
+    try:
+        auth = await user_api_key_auth(request=request, api_key=body.api_key)
+    except (ProxyException, HTTPException):
+        # Expected auth failures (invalid / expired / over-budget / blocked) → 401
+        # with a minimal body so internals aren't leaked. Unexpected errors (e.g. a
+        # DB outage) are deliberately NOT caught here: they surface as 500 rather
+        # than masquerading as "invalid key". The data plane still fails closed —
+        # it rejects any non-200 from this endpoint.
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=401, detail="invalid api key")
+
+    return auth.model_dump(exclude_none=True, mode="json")