How severe is CVE-2023-27481?

CVE-2023-27481 has a CVSS score of 4.3/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-27481?

CVE-2023-27481 affects the following packages: directus (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2023-27481?

Update directus to 9.16.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-27481 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-27481 in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for directus. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-27481 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2023-27481?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-27481 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2023-27481 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-27481 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-27481?

CVE-2023-27481 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.6%, placing it in the 44th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-27481?

CVE-2023-27481 is classified as Information Exposure (CWE-200). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-27481 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-27481 was published on March 7, 2023 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦 npm

CVE-2023-27481

MEDIUM

Extract password hashes through export querying in directus

Also known asGHSA-m5q3-8wgf-x8xf

Published

Mar 7, 2023

Updated

Apr 10, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.6%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk44th percentile+0.30%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

Weekly download volume for affected packages — a proxy for how broadly this vulnerability is deployed.

directusnpm

24Kdownloads / week

Description

Directus is a real-time API and App dashboard for managing SQL database content. In versions prior to 9.16.0 users with read access to the password field in directus_users can extract the argon2 password hashes by brute forcing the export functionality combined with a _starts_with filter. This allows the user to enumerate the password hashes. Accounts cannot be taken over unless the hashes can be reversed which is unlikely with current hardware. This problem has been patched by preventing any hashed/concealed field to be filtered against with the _starts_with or other string operator in version 9.16.0. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may mitigate this issue by ensuring that no user has read access to the password field in directus_users.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`directus`	all versions	9.16.0

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for directus. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update directus to 9.16.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-27481 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-27481 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to CVE-2023-27481. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Directus is a real-time API and App dashboard for managing SQL database content. In versions prior to 9.16.0 users with read access to the `password` field in `directus_users` can extract the argon2 password hashes by brute forcing the export functionality combined with a `_starts_with` filter. This allows the user to enumerate the password hashes. Accounts cannot be taken over unless the hashes can be reversed which is unlikely with current hardware. This problem has been patched by preventing any hashed/concealed field to be filtered against with the `_starts_with` or other string operator i

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-27481 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2023-27481 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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