CVE-2025-27089: Directus Directus Allows Updates To Non-allowed Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6
CVSS 5.4
CWE-863
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-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

CVE Identifier CVE-2025-27089
GHSA Identifier GHSA-99vm-5v2h-h6r6
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.4
CWE Classification CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization
Affected Product Directus
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

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).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality Low (C:L)
Integrity Low (I:L)
Availability None (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.

directus fixed: 11.1.2
npm install directus@11.1.2
@directus/api fixed: 23.1.0
npm install @directus/api@23.1.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

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

### Summary 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`. ### Details 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. ### Impact This is a vulnerability that allows update access to unintended fields, potentially impacting the password field for user accounts.

CVE-2025-27089 Affected Directus Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
11.1.223.1.0
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?
CVE-2025-27089 is a security vulnerability in Directus involving Directus allows updates to non-allowed fields due to overlapping policies under CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization.
Which Directus versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 11.1.2, 23.1.0 across affected packages: directus, @directus/api.
What version fixes CVE-2025-27089?
Upgrading to 11.1.2, 23.1.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is directus affected?
Yes, directus is affected in releases prior to 11.1.2. Upgrade your dependency to 11.1.2 or later.
Is @directus/api affected?
Yes, @directus/api is affected in releases prior to 23.1.0. Upgrade your dependency to 23.1.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-27089?
CVE-2025-27089 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.4 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-27089?
CVE-2025-27089 is classified under CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization (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.).
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2025-27089?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls directus'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "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"
  }
}