GHSA-g8jh-vg5j-4h3f
HIGHApollo Router Improperly Enforces Renamed Access Control Directives
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
apollo-router🦀apollo-routerReal-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
Summary
A vulnerability in Apollo Router allowed for unauthorized access to protected data through schema elements with access control directives (@authenticated, @requiresScopes, and @policy) that were renamed via @link imports. Router did not enforce renamed access control directives on schema elements (e.g. fields and types), allowing queries to bypass those element-level access controls.
Details
Apollo Federation allows users to specify access control directives (@authenticated, @requiresScopes, and @policy](https://www.apollographql.com/docs/graphos/routing/security/authorization#authorization-directives)) to protect schema data access at the element level. These directives can optionally be renamed via the imports argument to the @link directive, which can be useful if their default names match an existing user-defined directive in their subgraph schema. However, Apollo Router's access control logic ignored the imports argument, and would accordingly ignore access control directives that were renamed in this way.
Who Is Impacted
This vulnerability impacts Apollo Router customers defining @authenticated, @requiresScopes, or @policy directives on schema elements that were renamed via @link imports are impacted.
Scope of Impact
The vulnerability could allow a malicious actor to craft a query that can bypass access control requirements on schema elements protected by renamed access control directives.
Patches
This vulnerability has been fixed in Apollo Router by updating the access control logic to handle the imports argument in @link directives. You will need to update Router to one of the following versions:
- 1.61.12+
- 2.8.1+
Workarounds
- If you are not immediately updating Router to a patched version, you should remove any renames of access control directives in the
importsargument to the@linkdirective. - Customers not using Apollo Router with renamed access control directives (
@authenticated,@requiresScopes, and@policy) are not affected and do not need to take action.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | apollo-router | all versions | 1.61.12 |
| 🦀crates.io | apollo-router | ≥ 2.0.0-alpha.0&&< 2.8.1 | 2.8.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for apollo-router. 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 apollo-router to 1.61.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-g8jh-vg5j-4h3f 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-g8jh-vg5j-4h3f 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-g8jh-vg5j-4h3f. 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-g8jh-vg5j-4h3f in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-g8jh-vg5j-4h3f across crates.io dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.