GHSA-4v76-cw68-4vc9: SurrealDB Denial of Service Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-4v76-cw68-4vc9",
  "modified" : "2026-07-01T20:13:37Z",
  "published" : "2026-07-01T20:13:37Z",
  "aliases" : [ ],
  "summary" : "SurrealDB: Crafting malicious LIVE queries writes to the database, resulting in DoS, without permission to the table required",
  "details" : "A `LIVE` query whose `WHERE` clause evaluates to an error caused the source data modifier (the user creating, updating, or deleting a record on the watched table) to fail instead. Calling any arbitrary SurrealQL function with a typed parameter and passing a value of the wrong type — for example `LIVE SELECT * FROM t WHERE string::trim(deny)` — triggered an evaluation error inside the LIVE notification path. That error then propagated through to the triggering write, rolling back the attempted change.\n\nWhile such a `LIVE` query was registered, all `CREATE`, `UPDATE`, and `DELETE` operations on the watched table failed — including those issued by a root user — for as long as the registration remained active. Registering the `LIVE` required `select` permission on the table; no other permission on the table was needed.\n\n### Impact\n\nAn authenticated user with `select` permission on a table can prevent all `CREATE`, `UPDATE`, and `DELETE` operations on that table — by any other user, up to and including root — for the lifetime of a single registered `LIVE` query. Service is restored when the `LIVE` query is killed or the session that registered it ends.\n\n### Patches\n\nA patch has been introduced that:\n\n1. **Decouples LIVE query evaluation errors from the source transaction** — when `lq_check` returns an error during the LIVE notification path, the error is now reported to the LIVE subscriber as an `Action::Error` notification and the LIVE processing path returns `Ok(())`. The triggering write proceeds normally.\n2. **Defers the error notification until after the permission check** — the `Action::Error` notification is only delivered after the LIVE subscription's `PERMISSIONS` clause has been evaluated, so unauthorised subscribers do not learn even that an error occurred (closing an information-disclosure side channel introduced by the first part of the fix).\n\n- Versions 3.1.0 and later are not affected by this issue.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nUsers unable to upgrade should restrict the ability of untrusted users to register `LIVE` queries by removing the `select` permission on tables they want to keep writeable, or by gating LIVE registration at the application layer.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "surrealdb"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.1.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/security/advisories/GHSA-4v76-cw68-4vc9"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/commit/af835eb199ad2327a04c42101d11aff21fce7e47"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/commit/b29e03f0714d1c4ec091fc6f27f1edbe243b8aec"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-754" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-07-01T20:13:37Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}