How severe is CVE-2023-38503?

CVE-2023-38503 has a CVSS score of 5.7/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-38503?

CVE-2023-38503 affects the following packages: directus (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2023-38503?

Update directus to 10.5.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-38503 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-38503 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-2023-38503 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-2023-38503?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-38503 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-2023-38503 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-38503 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-2023-38503?

CVE-2023-38503 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.4%, placing it in the 34th 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.

When was CVE-2023-38503 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-38503 was published on July 25, 2023 and was last updated on April 2, 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-2023-38503

MEDIUM

Directus has Incorrect Permission Checking for GraphQL Subscriptions

Also known asGHSA-gggm-66rh-pp98

Published

Jul 25, 2023

Updated

Apr 2, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk34th percentile+0.28%

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. Starting in version 10.3.0 and prior to version 10.5.0, the permission filters (i.e. user_created IS $CURRENT_USER) are not properly checked when using GraphQL subscription resulting in unauthorized users getting event on their subscription which they should not be receiving according to the permissions. This can be any collection but out-of-the box the directus_users collection is configured with such a permissions filter allowing you to get updates for other users when changes happen. Version 10.5.0 contains a patch. As a workaround, disable GraphQL subscriptions.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`directus`	≥ 10.3.0&&< 10.5.0	10.5.0

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 10.5.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-38503 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-2023-38503 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-2023-38503. 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. Starting in version 10.3.0 and prior to version 10.5.0, the permission filters (i.e. `user_created IS $CURRENT_USER`) are not properly checked when using GraphQL subscription resulting in unauthorized users getting event on their subscription which they should not be receiving according to the permissions. This can be any collection but out-of-the box the `directus_users` collection is configured with such a permissions filter allowing you to get updates for other users when changes happen. Version 10.5.0 contains

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-38503 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2023-38503 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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