GHSA-849r-qrwj-8rv4
HIGHDirectus allows unauthenticated access to WebSocket events and operations
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.
Blast Radius
Weekly download volume for affected packages — a proxy for how broadly this vulnerability is deployed.
directusnpm@directus/apinpmDescription
Summary
When setting WEBSOCKETS_GRAPHQL_AUTH or WEBSOCKETS_REST_AUTH to "public", an unauthenticated user is able to do any of the supported operations (CRUD, subscriptions) with full admin privileges.
Details
Accountability for unauthenticated WebSocket requests is set to null, which used to be "public permissions" until the Permissions Policy update which now defaults that to system/admin level access. So instead of null we need to make use of createDefaultAccountability() to ensure public permissions are used for unauthenticated users.
PoC
- Start directus with
WEBSOCKETS_ENABLED=true
WEBSOCKETS_GRAPHQL_AUTH=public
WEBSOCKETS_REST_AUTH=public
- Subscribe using GQL or REST or do any CRUD operation on a user created collection (system tables are not reachable with crud)
subscription {
directus_users_mutated {
key
event
data {
id
email
first_name
last_name
password
}
}
}
or
{
"type": "items",
"action": "read",
"collection": "your_collection_name"
}
3a. Open up the data studio as any user. Observe how the subscriber gets notified on each page navigation (because the users last_page gets updated, the password fields is properly redacted here)
3b. Observe receiving all available items from the your_collection_name collection.
Impact
This impacts any Directus instance that has either WEBSOCKETS_GRAPHQL_AUTH or WEBSOCKETS_REST_AUTH set to public allowing unauthenticated users to subscribe for changes on any collection or do REST CRUD operations on user defined collections ignoring permissions.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | directus | ≥ 11.0.0&&< 11.3.0 | 11.3.0 |
| 📦npm | @directus/api | ≥ 22.2.0&&< 23.2.0 | 23.2.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
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 11.3.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-849r-qrwj-8rv4 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 GHSA-849r-qrwj-8rv4 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 GHSA-849r-qrwj-8rv4. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-849r-qrwj-8rv4 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-849r-qrwj-8rv4 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.