diff --git a/tools/dep_checker/README.md b/tools/dep_checker/README.md
index 69dde6badaba85..84e1fab640d992 100644
--- a/tools/dep_checker/README.md
+++ b/tools/dep_checker/README.md
@@ -6,9 +6,17 @@ in Node's dependencies.
 
 ## How to use
 
-In order to query the GitHub Advisory Database,
-a [Personal Access Token](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/keeping-your-account-and-data-secure/creating-a-personal-access-token)
-has to be created (no permissions need to be given to the token, since it's only used to query the public database).
+### Database authentication
+
+- In order to query the GitHub Advisory Database,
+  a [Personal Access Token](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/keeping-your-account-and-data-secure/creating-a-personal-access-token)
+  has to be created (no permissions need to be given to the token, since it's only used to query the public database).
+- The NVD can be queried without authentication, but it will be rate limited to one query every six seconds. In order to
+  remove
+  that limitation [request an API key](https://nvd.nist.gov/developers/request-an-api-key) and pass it as a parameter.
+
+### Running the script
+
 Once acquired, the script can be run as follows:
 
 ```shell
@@ -16,9 +24,11 @@ cd node/tools/dep_checker/
 pip install -r requirements.txt
 
 # Python >= 3.9 required
-python main.py --gh-token=$PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN
+python main.py --gh-token=$PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN --nvd-key=$NVD_API_KEY
 
-# or to skip querying the GitHub Advisory Database, simply run:
+# The command can also be run without parameters
+# This will skip querying the GitHub Advisory Database, and query the NVD
+# using the anonymous (rate-limited) API
 python main.py
 ```
 
@@ -51,8 +61,8 @@ non-affected version.
 - The queries can return false positives (
   see [this](https://github.com/nodejs/security-wg/issues/802#issuecomment-1144207417) comment for an example). These
   can be ignored by adding the vulnerability to the `ignore_list` in `dependencies.py`
-- The script takes a while to finish (~2 min) because queries to the NVD
-  are [rate-limited](https://nvd.nist.gov/developers)
+- If no NVD API key is provided, the script will take a while to finish (~2 min) because queries to the NVD
+  are [rate-limited](https://nvd.nist.gov/developers/start-here)
 - If any vulnerabilities are found, the script returns 1 and prints out a list with the ID and a link to a description
   of
   the vulnerability. This is the case except when the ID matches one in the ignore-list (inside `dependencies.py`) in
diff --git a/tools/dep_checker/main.py b/tools/dep_checker/main.py
index cccb435f8389f4..6675f48f570cfb 100644
--- a/tools/dep_checker/main.py
+++ b/tools/dep_checker/main.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 from gql.transport.aiohttp import AIOHTTPTransport
 from nvdlib import searchCVE  # type: ignore
 from packaging.specifiers import SpecifierSet
+from typing import Optional
 
 
 class Vulnerability:
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@ def query_ghad(gh_token: str) -> dict[str, list[Vulnerability]]:
     return found_vulnerabilities
 
 
-def query_nvd() -> dict[str, list[Vulnerability]]:
+def query_nvd(api_key: Optional[str]) -> dict[str, list[Vulnerability]]:
     """Queries the National Vulnerability Database for vulnerabilities reported for Node's dependencies.
 
     The database supports querying by CPE (Common Platform Enumeration) or by a keyword present in the CVE's
@@ -121,7 +122,9 @@ def query_nvd() -> dict[str, list[Vulnerability]]:
     for name, dep in deps_in_nvd.items():
         query_results = [
             cve
-            for cve in searchCVE(cpeMatchString=dep.get_cpe(), keyword=dep.keyword)
+            for cve in searchCVE(
+                cpeMatchString=dep.get_cpe(), keyword=dep.keyword, key=api_key
+            )
             if cve.id not in ignore_list
         ]
         if query_results:
@@ -140,15 +143,24 @@ def main():
         "--gh-token",
         help="the GitHub authentication token for querying the GH Advisory Database",
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--nvd-key",
+        help="the NVD API key for querying the National Vulnerability Database",
+    )
     gh_token = parser.parse_args().gh_token
+    nvd_key = parser.parse_args().nvd_key
     if gh_token is None:
         print(
             "Warning: GitHub authentication token not provided, skipping GitHub Advisory Database queries"
         )
+    if nvd_key is None:
+        print(
+            "Warning: NVD API key not provided, queries will be slower due to rate limiting"
+        )
     ghad_vulnerabilities: dict[str, list[Vulnerability]] = (
         {} if gh_token is None else query_ghad(gh_token)
     )
-    nvd_vulnerabilities = query_nvd()
+    nvd_vulnerabilities: dict[str, list[Vulnerability]] = query_nvd(nvd_key)
 
     if not ghad_vulnerabilities and not nvd_vulnerabilities:
         print(f"No new vulnerabilities found ({len(ignore_list)} ignored)")
diff --git a/tools/dep_checker/requirements.txt b/tools/dep_checker/requirements.txt
index 894840287e861f..3a41c5824b7f06 100644
--- a/tools/dep_checker/requirements.txt
+++ b/tools/dep_checker/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 gql[aiohttp]
-nvdlib
+nvdlib==0.5.8
 packaging