GHSA-x33c-7c2v-mrj9
HIGHApollo Router Affected by an Access Control Bypass on Polymorphic Types
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 unauthenticated queries to access data that required additional access controls. Router incorrectly handled access control directives on interface types/fields and their implementing object types/fields, applying them to interface types/fields while ignoring directives on their implementing object types/fields when all implementations had the same requirements.
Details
Apollo Federation allows users to specify access control directives (@authenticated, @requiresScopes, and @policy) to protect object and interface types and fields. However, the GraphQL specification does not define inheritance rules for directives from interfaces to their implementations. Apollo Router will enforce any directives on the interface types/fields but ignore any directives on the implementation object types/fields (as long as all implementations have the same requirements). This inconsistent enforcement behavior leads to unexpected runtime security gaps.
Who is impacted
This vulnerability impacts Apollo Router customers defining @authenticated, @requiresScopes, or @policy directives inconsistently on polymorphic types (i.e., object types that implement interface types). Specifically, if the same access control directives are applied to all implementing types/fields but not on their implemented interface types/fields, they could be impacted.
Scope of Impact
This vulnerability could allow a malicious actor to craft a query that can bypass access control requirements on the object types/fields by instead querying them via implemented interface types/fields that don't have the same access control requirements.
Patches
This vulnerability has been fixed at runtime in Apollo Router. You may 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 apply any included access control requirements to both the appropriate interface types/fields and their implementations.
- Customers not using Apollo Router access control features (
@authenticated,@requiresScopes, or@policydirectives) or not specifying inconsistent access control requirements on polymorphic types/fields 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-x33c-7c2v-mrj9 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-x33c-7c2v-mrj9 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-x33c-7c2v-mrj9. 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-x33c-7c2v-mrj9 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-x33c-7c2v-mrj9 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.