GHSA-q8qp-67f9-wr3f
SurrealDB vulnerable to Denial of Service due to nested types annotations
- Severity
- 6.5 / 10
- Medium · CVSS 3.1
- Exploit chance (EPSS)
- —
- No score published
- Known exploited
- No
- Not in CISA's catalog
- Weakness
- CWE-674 Uncontrolled Recursion
- Fix
3.1.0- Upgrade surrealdb to this version or later
Description
The SurrealDB type/kind parser did not enforce the configured recursion depth limit when parsing nested type annotations. The expression parser already enforced the limit for analogous constructs; the kind parser omitted it. An authenticated attacker could send a query with deeply nested type annotations (e.g., array<option<array<option<...>>>>) and exhaust server memory, crashing the process.
This is an incomplete fix for GHSA-6r8p-hpg7-825g, which addressed the same class of bug in the expression parser but did not cover the kind/type annotation parser code path.
Impact
An authenticated user with query execution privileges can crash a SurrealDB server with a single WebSocket message containing deeply nested type annotations.
Patches
A patch has been introduced that wraps parse_concrete_kind and the OPTION<...> arm of parse_inner_kind with enter_object_recursion!, bounding the recursive cycle parse_concrete_kind → parse_inner_kind → parse_inner_single_kind → parse_concrete_kind at the configured object_recursion_limit (default 100). Regression tests cover both cast and DEFINE FIELD paths.
- Versions 3.1.0 and later are not affected by this issue.
Workarounds
Restrict the ability of untrusted users to execute arbitrary queries via the --deny-arbitrary-query capability flag for the affected user classes (guest, record, or system). Disabling untrusted access to the WebSocket /rpc endpoint also prevents exploitation; the HTTP /sql endpoint's 1 MiB body limit constrains nesting to a depth where OOM is not feasible.
Affected versions
crates.io
| Package | Vulnerable | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| surrealdb | < 3.1.0 |
3.1.0 |
How to fix
Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.
surrealdb crates.io → 3.1.0
- cargo
cargo update -p surrealdb --precise 3.1.0
Severity breakdown
CVSS 3.1 6.5
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Weakness
CWE-674: Uncontrolled Recursion
The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack.
How to prevent it
- Implementation: Ensure that an end condition will be reached under all logic conditions. The end condition may include checking against the depth of recursion and exiting with an error if the recursion goes too deep. The complexity of the end condition contributes to the effectiveness of this action.
- Implementation: Increase the stack size.
References
Packages
Other links
Timeline
- Published
- Last updated by the source
Related advisories
| Advisory | Severity | Why it's related |
|---|---|---|
| GHSA-8rw6-p7m8-63jp SurrealDB: Array element-level (field.*) SELECT permissions leak denied elements to record users | High | Also affects surrealdb |
| GHSA-848m-r628-vrxw SurrealDB: Custom API route lets authenticated callers override namespace/database scope via URL path | High | Also affects surrealdb |
| GHSA-m3c3-78fh-w3w7 SurrealDB allows bypass of deny-net flags via DNS resolution | High | Also affects SurrealDB |
| GHSA-whwg-vh4f-pmmf SurrealDB: Edge PERMISSIONS FOR delete bypassed when a connected node is deleted | Medium | Also affects surrealdb |
| GHSA-fwg2-gr34-q3w8 SurrealDB: ES512 silently downgraded to ES384 due to jsonwebtoken crate limitation | Medium | Also affects surrealdb |
| GHSA-c8jx-96c9-8xrp SurrealDB: Field-level SELECT permissions bypassed via indexed COUNT fast paths | Medium | Also affects surrealdb |
| GHSA-wp87-mgvq-5j93 SurrealDB: USE NS/DB implicit creation bypasses DEFINE authorization | Medium | Also affects surrealdb |
| GHSA-97vg-427p-8hx5 SurrealDB: Port-specific --deny-net rules silently bypassed on HTTP redirect | Medium | Also affects surrealdb |
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