Overlapping policies allow update to non-allowed fields in directus
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · Low · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-863.
Summary
Directus is a real-time API and App dashboard for managing SQL database content. In affected versions if there are two overlapping policies for the `update` action that allow access to different fields, instead of correctly checking access permissions against the item they apply for the user is allowed to update the superset of fields allowed by any of the policies. E.g. have one policy allowing update access to `field_a` if the `id == 1` and one policy allowing update access to `field_b` if the `id == 2`. The user with both these policies is allowed to update both `field_a` and `field_b` for the items with ids `1` and `2`. Before v11, if a user was allowed to update an item they were allowed to update the fields that the single permission, that applied to that item, listed. With overlapping permissions this isn't as clear cut anymore and the union of fields might not be the fields the user is allowed to update for that specific item. The solution that this PR introduces is to evaluate the permissions for each field that the user tries to update in the validateItemAccess DB query, instead of only verifying access to the item as a whole. This is done by, instead of returning the actual field value, returning a flag that indicates if the user has access to that field. This uses the same case/when mechanism that is used for stripping out non permitted field that is at the core of the permissions engine. As a result, for every item that the access is validated for, the expected result is an item that has either 1 or null for all the "requested" fields instead of any of the actual field values. These results are not useful for anything other than verifying the field level access permissions. The final check in validateItemAccess can either fail if the number of items does not match the number of items the access is checked for (ie. the user does not have access to the item at all) or if not all of the passed in fields have access permissions for any of the returned items. This is a vulnerability that allows update access to unintended fields, potentially impacting the password field for user accounts. This has been addressed in version 11.1.2 and all users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| directus | directus | 11.0.0 to before 11.1.2 | 11.1.2 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | directus (npm) | 11.0.0 to before 11.1.2 | 11.1.2 | Patch available | GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6 |
| — | @directus/api (npm) | 22.0.0 to before 23.1.0 | 23.1.0 | Patch available | GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6 |
- directus Vendordirectus Affected 11.0.0 to before 11.1.2 Fixed in 11.1.2 Patch available CNA
- directus (npm) Vendor— Affected 11.0.0 to before 11.1.2 Fixed in 11.1.2 Patch available GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6
- @directus/api (npm) Vendor— Affected 22.0.0 to before 23.1.0 Fixed in 23.1.0 Patch available GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6
Remediation
- Fix · CNA directus (directus) Fixed in 11.1.2
- Fix · GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6 directus (npm) Fixed in 11.1.2 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6 @directus/api (npm) Fixed in 23.1.0 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-27089
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6
References
Advisory 2
More Directus vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-21659 Directus's webhook trigger flows can leak sensitive data CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.6
- TI-2024-36266 Directus allows unauthenticated access to WebSocket events and operations CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2024-26791 Directus allows SSO User Enumeration CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2024-23956 Directus is soft-locked by providing a string value to random string util CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2024-26624 Directus Incorrectly handles _in` filter CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.7
- TI-2025-21658 Directus `search` query parameter allows enumeration of non permitted fields CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
Sources
- CVE-2025-27089 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-27089 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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