Directus Affected by GraphQL Alias Amplification Denial-of-Service Due to Missing Query Cost/Complexity Limits

Summary

CVECVE-2026-35441
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-04-06 22:16:22 UTC
Updated2026-04-07 13:20:11 UTC
DescriptionDirectus is a real-time API and App dashboard for managing SQL database content. Prior to 11.17.0, Directus' GraphQL endpoints (/graphql and /graphql/system) did not deduplicate resolver invocations within a single request. An authenticated user could exploit GraphQL aliasing to repeat an expensive relational query many times in a single request, forcing the server to execute a large number of independent complex database queries concurrently, multiplying database load linearly with the number of aliases. The existing token limit on GraphQL queries still permitted enough aliases for significant resource exhaustion, while the relational depth limit applied per alias without reducing the total number executed. Rate limiting is disabled by default, meaning no built-in throttle prevented this from causing CPU, memory, and I/O exhaustion that could degrade or crash the service. Any authenticated user, including those with minimal read-only permissions, could trigger this condition. This vulnerability is fixed in 11.17.0.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 6.5 MEDIUM from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS: 0.000320000 probability, percentile 0.092770000 (date 2026-04-07)

Problem Types: CWE-400 | CWE-770 | CWE-400 CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption | CWE-770 CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary6.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED6.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Directus Directus affected < 11.17.0 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/directus/directus/security/advisories/GHSA-ph52-67fq-75wj [email protected] github.com
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis
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