CVE-2026-63763 — surrealdb
Fix: surrealdb/surrealdb@f515c91CVE-2026-63763 is a CWE-639 vulnerability in surrealdb. A fix is available for surrealdb — see the affected versions and patch details below.
SurrealDB before 2.5.0 Privilege Escalation via Future Fields
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-2026-63763.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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.
Real-World Exposure
surrealdb🦀surrealdbReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Unprivileged users (for example, those with the database editor role) can create or modify fields in records that contain functions or futures. Futures are values which are only computed when the value is queried. The query executes in the context of the querying user, rather than the user who originally defined the future. Likewise, fields containing functions or custom-defined logic (closures) are executed under the privileges of the invoking user, not the creator.
This results in a confused deputy vulnerability: an attacker with limited privileges can define a malicious function or future field that performs privileged actions. When a higher-privileged user (such as a root owner or namespace administrator) executes the function or queries or modifies that record, the function executes with their elevated permissions.
Impact
An attacker who can create or update function/future fields can plant logic that executes with a privileged user’s context. If a privileged user performs a write that touches the malicious field, the attacker can achieve full privilege escalation (e.g., create a root owner and take over the server).
If a privileged user performs a read action on the malicious field, this attack vector could still be potentially be used to perform limited denial of service or, in the specific case where the network capability was explicitly enabled and unrestricted, exfiltrate database information over the network.
Patches
Versions prior to 2.5.0 and 3.0.0-beta.3 are vulnerable.
For SurrealDB 3.0, futures are no longer supported, replaced by computed fields, only available within schemaful tables.
Further to this patches for 2.5.0 and 3.0.0-beta.3:
- Implements an
auth_limiton defined apis, functions, fields and events, that limits execution to the permissions of the creating user or the invoking user, whichever is lower. - Prevents
closuresfrom being stored, that eliminates a potential attack surface. For 2.5.0 this can still be allowed by using theinsecure_storable_closurescapability - Ensures the proper auth level is used to compute expressions in signin & signup
For existing apis, events, fields and functions defined prior to upgrading to 2.5.0 or 3.0.0-beta.3 auth_limit will not apply, to avoid breaking changes. These will need to subsequently be redefined so that auth_limit can take effect.
Workarounds
Users unable to patch are advised to evaluate their use of the database to identify where low privileged users are able to define logic subsequently executed by privileged users, such as apis, functions, futures fields and events, and recommended to minimise these instances.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | surrealdb | all versions | 2.5.0cargo update -p surrealdb --precise 2.5.0 |
| 🦀crates.io | surrealdb | ≥ 3.0.0-alpha.1&&< 3.0.0-beta.3 | 3.0.0-beta.3cargo update -p surrealdb --precise 3.0.0-beta.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for surrealdb, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update surrealdb to 2.5.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-63763 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-63763 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2026-63763. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-63763 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2026-63763 across crates.io dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.