GHSA-v23w-pppm-jh66
HIGHSilverstripe GraphQL has DDOS Vulnerability due to lack of protection against recursive queries
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
silverstripe/graphql🐘silverstripe/graphql🐘silverstripe/graphql🐘silverstripe/graphql🐘silverstripe/graphqlReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
An attacker could use a recursive graphql query to execute a Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDOS attack) against a website. This mostly affects websites with publicly exposed graphql schemas.
If your Silverstripe CMS project does not expose a public facing graphql schema, a user account is required to trigger the DDOS attack. If your site is hosted behind a content delivery network (CDN), such as Imperva or CloudFlare, this may further mitigate the risk.
The fix includes some new configuration options which you might want to tweak for your project, based on your own requirements. See the documentation in the references for details.
Patches
Patched in 3.8.2, 4.1.3, 4.2.5, 4.3.4, 5.0.3
References
- CVE-2023-40180 on silverstripe.org
- Documentation about protection against recursive or complex queries for silverstripe/graphql 4.x/5.x
- Documentation about protection against recursive or complex queries for silverstripe/graphql 3.x
Reported by
Jason Nguyen from phew (https://phew.co.nz/)
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | silverstripe/graphql | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.8.2 | 3.8.2 |
| 🐘Packagist | silverstripe/graphql | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.1.3 | 4.1.3 |
| 🐘Packagist | silverstripe/graphql | ≥ 4.2.0&&< 4.2.5 | 4.2.5 |
| 🐘Packagist | silverstripe/graphql | ≥ 4.3.0&&< 4.3.4 | 4.3.4 |
| 🐘Packagist | silverstripe/graphql | ≥ 5.0.0&&< 5.0.3 | 5.0.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for silverstripe/graphql. 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 silverstripe/graphql to 3.8.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-v23w-pppm-jh66 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-v23w-pppm-jh66 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-v23w-pppm-jh66. 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-v23w-pppm-jh66 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-v23w-pppm-jh66 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.