diff --git a/litellm/proxy/hooks/tag_rate_limits_shared.py b/litellm/proxy/hooks/tag_rate_limits_shared.py
index 34989e5bf5a..c16003cd3bf 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/hooks/tag_rate_limits_shared.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/hooks/tag_rate_limits_shared.py
@@ -213,13 +213,19 @@ def resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name(
     real, populated `metadata` dict for a standard (non
     LITELLM_METADATA_ROUTES) request, so the key-presence check always picks
     `litellm_metadata` there and silently reads no tags/identity at all.
-    Requiring the value to actually be a populated dict, matching
-    `_get_request_tags`'s own truthiness check in litellm_logging.py, only
+
+    A plain truthiness check on `litellm_metadata` isn't enough either: a
+    caller can populate it with unrelated, non-empty content on a route where
+    `metadata` is the field the proxy actually wrote identity into, and
+    truthiness alone would still misresolve to the caller-controlled bucket.
+    `add_user_api_key_auth_to_request_metadata` (litellm_pre_call_utils.py)
+    unconditionally stamps a `user_api_key_auth` key into whichever bucket it
+    resolved as authoritative, overwriting anything a caller pre-populated
+    there -- so requiring that marker's presence, not mere truthiness, only
     ever prefers `litellm_metadata` when it is genuinely the field the proxy
-    wrote identity/tags into (LITELLM_METADATA_ROUTES pre-seed it before
-    admission runs, so it is always a populated dict by success time there)."""
+    wrote identity/tags into."""
     litellm_metadata: Final = litellm_params_for_metadata.get("litellm_metadata")
-    if isinstance(litellm_metadata, Mapping) and litellm_metadata:
+    if isinstance(litellm_metadata, Mapping) and "user_api_key_auth" in litellm_metadata:
         return "litellm_metadata"
     return "metadata"
 
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/hooks/test_tag_rate_limits_shared.py b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/hooks/test_tag_rate_limits_shared.py
index d645b09075c..7bb9d04fef0 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/hooks/test_tag_rate_limits_shared.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/hooks/test_tag_rate_limits_shared.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ from litellm.proxy.hooks.tag_rate_limits_shared import (
     fixed_length_identity,
     order_tags_for_identity_resolution,
     partition_key,
+    resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name,
 )
 from litellm.types.router import TagRateLimitEntry, TagRateLimitScope
 
@@ -124,6 +125,43 @@ def test_extract_key_hash_reads_metadata_when_it_is_the_authoritative_field():
     assert extract_key_hash(request_kwargs, "metadata") == "real-hash"
 
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name -- veria-ai finding surfaced on
+# PR #38347: a caller-supplied, non-empty litellm_metadata must not be
+# selected over the metadata the proxy actually wrote authenticated tags into
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name_ignores_caller_forged_non_empty_litellm_metadata():
+    """A caller-supplied litellm_metadata with unrelated content (no
+    user_api_key_auth marker) must not be picked over metadata, even though
+    it is a non-empty dict."""
+    litellm_params_for_metadata = {"litellm_metadata": {"marker": True}}
+    assert resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name(litellm_params_for_metadata) == "metadata"
+
+
+def test_resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name_selects_litellm_metadata_when_server_written():
+    """A genuinely server-populated litellm_metadata (LITELLM_METADATA_ROUTES)
+    always carries the user_api_key_auth marker stamped by
+    add_user_api_key_auth_to_request_metadata."""
+    litellm_params_for_metadata = {
+        "litellm_metadata": {"user_api_key_auth": object(), "tags": ["team_id:t1"]}
+    }
+    assert resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name(litellm_params_for_metadata) == "litellm_metadata"
+
+
+def test_resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name_defaults_to_metadata_when_litellm_metadata_absent():
+    assert resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name({}) == "metadata"
+
+
+def test_resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name_defaults_to_metadata_when_litellm_metadata_none():
+    assert resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name({"litellm_metadata": None}) == "metadata"
+
+
+def test_resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name_defaults_to_metadata_when_litellm_metadata_empty():
+    assert resolve_success_event_metadata_variable_name({"litellm_metadata": {}}) == "metadata"
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # entry_applies -- enabled_for / disabled_for / apply_to_key_alias / apply_to_models
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------