GHSA-hxgm-ghmv-xjjm
MEDIUMGHSA-hxgm-ghmv-xjjm is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.3) CWE-284 vulnerability in directus. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-hxgm-ghmv-xjjm is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Directus incorrectly handles `_in` filter
Blast Radius
Weekly download volume for affected packages — a proxy for how broadly this vulnerability is deployed.
directusnpmDescription
Summary
Directus >=9.23.0, <=v10.5.3 improperly handles _in, _nin operators. It evaluates empty arrays as valid so expressions like {"role": {"_in": $CURRENT_USER.some_field}} would evaluate to true allowing the request to pass.
Details
This results in Broken Access Control because the rule fails to do what it was intended to do: Pass rule if field matches any of the values. ref: https://docs.directus.io/reference/filter-rules.html#filter-operators In my example this would translate to "Pass rule if <collection>.role matches any of []". Which should fail. This instead passes in Directus <= v10.5.3, >=v9.23.0
PoC
{"role": {"_in": $CURRENT_USER.some_field}} field validation would pass if $CURRENT_USER.some_field is null.
Real scenario: Using https://github.com/u12206050/directus-extension-role-chooser with the specified versions of Directus (I tested on 10.0.0) allows users with access to this feature set their role to whatever role if they don't have any roles assigned (user_roles.role is left with the default value, null) despite the validation rule being
validation:
role:
_in: $CURRENT_USER.user_roles.role
Latest version of Directus (v10.8.3 and above) handles the above validation rule correctly.
Impact
Permissions fail to open for setups relying on this filter and can lead to users getting access to things they're not supposed to.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | directus | ≥ 9.23.0&&< 10.6.0 | 10.6.0 |
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 10.6.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hxgm-ghmv-xjjm 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-hxgm-ghmv-xjjm 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-hxgm-ghmv-xjjm. 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-hxgm-ghmv-xjjm in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-hxgm-ghmv-xjjm across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.