GHSA-whwg-vh4f-pmmf is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) CWE-285 vulnerability in surrealdb. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-whwg-vh4f-pmmf is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
SurrealDB: Edge PERMISSIONS FOR delete bypassed when a connected node is deleted
Real-World Exposure
surrealdbReal-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
In SurrealDB, records can be connected as a graph: a RELATE statement creates an edge record between two node records. If either endpoint node is deleted, SurrealDB automatically removes the edge row to keep the graph consistent.
A user with permission to delete a node could also delete the edges connected to that node, even when the edge table's PERMISSIONS FOR delete clause should have stopped them.
The automatic edge removal (Document::purge_edges) ran with permissions disabled (opt.clone().with_perms(false)), so the edge table's PERMISSIONS FOR delete and PERMISSIONS FOR select clauses were never consulted. The removal step could also observe edge state that the edge's SELECT clause should have hidden.
Impact
What an attacker can do:
- Delete any edge connected to a node they can delete, regardless of the edge table's
PERMISSIONS FOR deleteclause. - Observe edge contents that
PERMISSIONS FOR selectshould have hidden, as a side effect of the same edge-removal step.
What it can't do:
- Delete nodes on tables they do not hold
DELETEon (the edge removal only runs from an authorised node delete). - Cross namespace or database isolation boundaries.
- Escalate to root or operator-level privileges.
Patches
Document::purge_edges now propagates the caller's permission context into the edge removal. Each connected edge DELETE is evaluated against the edge table's PERMISSIONS FOR delete clause, matching a direct DELETE.
Versions 3.1.0 and later are not affected.
Workarounds
- Restrict node
DELETEpermission to principals trusted to delete all connected edge records. - Use namespace or database isolation as the primary boundary where edge-level
PERMISSIONSis load-bearing for multi-tenant separation.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | surrealdb | all versions | 3.1.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for surrealdb. 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 surrealdb to 3.1.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-whwg-vh4f-pmmf 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-whwg-vh4f-pmmf 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-whwg-vh4f-pmmf. 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-whwg-vh4f-pmmf in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-whwg-vh4f-pmmf 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.