CVE-2025-27089: Directus Directus Allows Updates To Non-allowed Vulnerability
MODERATECVE-2025-27089 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.4) directus allows updates to non-allowed vulnerability (CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization) affecting Directus libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves directus allows updates to non-allowed fields due to overlapping policies. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 11.1.2, 23.1.0.
CVE-2025-27089 at a Glance
Security Impact
CVSS: 5.4
The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N).
How to Fix CVE-2025-27089
To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Directus dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.
npm install directus@11.1.2
npm install @directus/api@23.1.0
Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:
npm ls directus
How to Check if You Are Affected
To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2025-27089, inspect your project dependencies using npm:
npm ls directus
Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Directus in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 11.1.2), your application is affected.
Note: The npm ls directus command inspects dependencies declared in your package.json and lockfile; it does not perform automated runtime dynamic scanning.
Technical Details
Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization, where the product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check. In Directus, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.
Source Advisory Statement
CVE-2025-27089 Affected Directus Versions
2 component(s)| Product / Package | Ecosystem | Affected Versions | Fixed Version |
|---|---|---|---|
|
directus
|
npm |
≥ 11.0.0
< 11.1.2
|
11.1.2
|
|
@directus/api
|
npm |
≥ 22.0.0
< 23.1.0
|
23.1.0
|
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2025-27089?
Which Directus versions are affected?
What version fixes CVE-2025-27089?
Is directus affected?
Is @directus/api affected?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-27089?
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-27089?
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2025-27089?
Machine-readable OSV JSON
OSV v1.5 Schema
{
"schema_version" : "1.4.0",
"id" : "GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6",
"modified" : "2025-02-19T19:59:54Z",
"published" : "2025-02-19T17:46:27Z",
"aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-27089" ],
"summary" : "Directus allows updates to non-allowed fields due to overlapping policies",
"details" : "### Summary\nIf 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. \n\nE.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`. \n\n### Details\nBefore 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nAs 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\n### Impact\nThis is a vulnerability that allows update access to unintended fields, potentially impacting the password field for user accounts.",
"severity" : [ {
"type" : "CVSS_V3",
"score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N"
} ],
"affected" : [ {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "npm",
"name" : "directus"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "11.0.0"
}, {
"fixed" : "11.1.2"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "npm",
"name" : "@directus/api"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "22.0.0"
}, {
"fixed" : "23.1.0"
} ]
} ]
} ],
"references" : [ {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/directus/directus/security/advisories/GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6"
}, {
"type" : "ADVISORY",
"url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-27089"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/directus/directus/commit/a7ea67783b060d0d6fc964d71c2d4575d5eee4e2"
}, {
"type" : "PACKAGE",
"url" : "https://github.com/directus/directus"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/directus/directus/releases/tag/v11.1.2"
} ],
"database_specific" : {
"cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-863" ],
"severity" : "MODERATE",
"github_reviewed" : true,
"github_reviewed_at" : "2025-02-19T17:46:27Z",
"nvd_published_at" : "2025-02-19T17:15:15Z"
}
}