Vulnerability-Lookup

GHSA-WP87-MGVQ-5J93

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-07-01 20:21 – Updated: 2026-07-01 20:21

Summary

SurrealDB: USE NS/DB implicit creation bypasses DEFINE authorization

Details

An anonymous caller could create new namespaces and databases on a running SurrealDB instance without holding DEFINE NAMESPACE or DEFINE DATABASE permission.

USE NS <name> and USE DB <name> automatically create the target when it does not exist. The three places USE is handled — the RPC use method, Datastore::process_use, and the SurrealQL executor — did not check whether the caller was allowed to create the resource. Under default capabilities any session reached this path, including an unauthenticated guest.

Impact

What an attacker can do:

Create new namespaces and databases without DEFINE NAMESPACE / DEFINE DATABASE permission. An unauthenticated guest is enough under default capabilities.
Recreate a parent namespace that an operator deliberately dropped, using a stale namespace-Editor token, by running USE NS <dropped> DB anything.
Exhaust catalog storage by repeatedly creating new resources.

What it can't do:

Read or modify data inside any pre-existing namespace or database.
Escalate to root or namespace-owner privileges on existing resources.
Affect deployments running with auth_enabled=false.

Patches

All three USE entry points now check whether the caller has DEFINE NAMESPACE / DEFINE DATABASE authority before creating a missing target. Sessions still update their context regardless of authorization, so SDKs that send use before signin continue to work — only the catalog creation step is gated. The parent-namespace side-effect path is closed by the same check.

Versions 3.1.0 and later are not affected.

Workarounds

Set --deny-arbitrary-query * for guest principals to remove the entry point.
Run with --auth and require all callers to signin before issuing use.
Revoke namespace-level tokens promptly when a namespace is dropped.

Severity

6.5 (Medium)


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

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{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "crates.io",
        "name": "surrealdb"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "3.1.0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-862",
      "CWE-863"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-07-01T20:21:25Z",
    "nvd_published_at": null,
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "An anonymous caller could create new namespaces and databases on a running SurrealDB instance without holding `DEFINE NAMESPACE` or `DEFINE DATABASE` permission.\n\n`USE NS \u003cname\u003e` and `USE DB \u003cname\u003e` automatically create the target when it does not exist. The three places `USE` is handled \u2014 the RPC `use` method, `Datastore::process_use`, and the SurrealQL executor \u2014 did not check whether the caller was allowed to create the resource. Under default capabilities any session reached this path, including an unauthenticated guest.\n\n### Impact\n\nWhat an attacker **can** do:\n\n- Create new namespaces and databases without `DEFINE NAMESPACE` / `DEFINE DATABASE` permission. An unauthenticated guest is enough under default capabilities.\n- Recreate a parent namespace that an operator deliberately dropped, using a stale namespace-Editor token, by running `USE NS \u003cdropped\u003e DB anything`.\n- Exhaust catalog storage by repeatedly creating new resources.\n\nWhat it **can\u0027t** do:\n\n- Read or modify data inside any pre-existing namespace or database.\n- Escalate to root or namespace-owner privileges on existing resources.\n- Affect deployments running with `auth_enabled=false`.\n\n### Patches\n\nAll three `USE` entry points now check whether the caller has `DEFINE NAMESPACE` / `DEFINE DATABASE` authority before creating a missing target. Sessions still update their context regardless of authorization, so SDKs that send `use` before `signin` continue to work \u2014 only the catalog creation step is gated. The parent-namespace side-effect path is closed by the same check.\n\nVersions 3.1.0 and later are not affected.\n\n### Workarounds\n\n- Set `--deny-arbitrary-query *` for guest principals to remove the entry point.\n- Run with `--auth` and require all callers to `signin` before issuing `use`.\n- Revoke namespace-level tokens promptly when a namespace is dropped.",
  "id": "GHSA-wp87-mgvq-5j93",
  "modified": "2026-07-01T20:21:25Z",
  "published": "2026-07-01T20:21:25Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/security/advisories/GHSA-wp87-mgvq-5j93"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/commit/f3ee3bd55533c14f1fa3e69ce18fc8904c1ce3f9"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "SurrealDB: USE NS/DB implicit creation bypasses DEFINE authorization"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

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Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base model, served locally by ML-Gateway. They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.

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