How severe is GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j?

GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j has a CVSS score of 5.9/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j?

GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j affects the following packages: github.com/openfga/openfga (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j?

Update github.com/openfga/openfga to 1.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j in my Go dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/openfga/openfga. 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 GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j 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 GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j 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 GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 2 known exploit references for GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j, including 2 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j?

GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.9%, placing it in the 56th 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 GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j was published on June 28, 2023 and was last updated on November 8, 2023. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹 Go

GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j

MEDIUM

OpenFGA vulnerable to denial of service due to circular relationship

Also known asCVE-2023-35933GO-2023-1872

Published

Jun 28, 2023

Updated

Nov 8, 2023

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

2 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.9%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk56th percentile+0.52%

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

🐹github.com/openfga/openfga

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Overview

OpenFGA versions v1.1.0 and prior are vulnerable to a DoS attack when certain Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions.

Am I Affected?

You are affected by this vulnerability if you are using OpenFGA v1.1.0 or earlier, and if you are executing certain Check or ListObjects calls against a vulnerable authorization model. To see which of your models could be vulnerable to this attack, download OpenFGA v1.2.0 and run the following command:

./openfga validate-models --datastore-engine <ENGINE> --datastore-uri <URI> | jq .[] | select(.Error | contains("loop"))

replacing the variables <ENGINE> and <URI> as needed.

Fix

Upgrade to v1.1.1.

Backward Compatibility

If you are not passing an invalid authorization model (as identified by running ./openfga validate-models) as a parameter of your Check and ListObjects calls, this upgrade is backwards compatible.

Otherwise, OpenFGA v1.1.1 will start returning HTTP 400 status codes on those calls.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/openfga/openfga`	all versions	1.1.1

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

OPenFGA is an open source authorization/permission engine built for deve…

openfga.devNVDJul 2023

OPenFGA is an open source authorization/permission engine built for deve…

openfga.devNVDJul 2023

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/openfga/openfga. 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 github.com/openfga/openfga to 1.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j 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-hr9r-8phq-5x8j 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-hr9r-8phq-5x8j. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Overview OpenFGA versions v1.1.0 and prior are vulnerable to a DoS attack when certain Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions. ### Am I Affected? You are affected by this vulnerability if you are using OpenFGA v1.1.0 or earlier, and if you are executing certain [Check](https://openfga.dev/api/service#/Relationship%20Queries/Check) or [ListObjects](https://openfga.dev/api/service#/Relationship%20Queries/ListObjects) calls against a vulnerable authorization model. To see which of your models could be vulnerable

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works