CVE-2026-25544 — @payloadcms/drizzle
CRITICALCVE-2026-25544 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) SQL Injection vulnerability in @payloadcms/drizzle. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for @payloadcms/drizzle — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Payload has an SQL Injection in JSON/RichText Queries on PostgreSQL/SQLite Adapters
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-25544.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
@payloadcms/drizzlenpmDescription
Impact
When querying JSON or richText fields, user input was directly embedded into SQL without escaping, enabling blind SQL Injection attacks. An unauthenticated attacker could extract sensitive data (emails, password reset tokens) and achieve full account takeover without password cracking.
Users are affected if ALL of these are true:
- Payload version < v3.73.0
- Using a Drizzle-based database adapter (
@payloadcms/drizzleas dependency):@payloadcms/db-postgres@payloadcms/db-vercel-postgres@payloadcms/db-sqlite@payloadcms/db-d1-sqlite
- At least one accessible collection that has a
type: 'json'ortype: 'richText'field whereaccess.readreturns anything other thanfalse(trueorWhereconstraint)
Users are NOT affected if:
- Using
@payloadcms/db-mongodb - No JSON or richText fields exist in any collection
- All JSON/richText fields have
access: { read: () => false }
Patches
Upgrade to Payload v3.73.0 or later.
Workarounds
If a project cannot upgrade immediately, add access: { read: () => false } to all JSON and richText fields as a temporary mitigation.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @payloadcms/drizzle | all versions | 3.73.0npm install @payloadcms/drizzle@3.73.0 |
Affected Products
payloadpayloadcmsResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Payload CMS 3.72.0 - Blind SQL Injection
by cardosource · Sep 1, 2026
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @payloadcms/drizzle, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update @payloadcms/drizzle to 3.73.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-25544 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Until you can upgrade, make sure every query built from user input uses parameterised statements or a prepared-statement API rather than string concatenation, and reduce the database account's privileges so an injected query cannot read or alter data beyond what the feature needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-25544 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.