CVE-2025-53889: Directus Directus' Insufficient Permission Checks Can Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-7cvf-pxgp-42fc
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CVSS 6.5
CWE-287 CWE-285
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2025-53889 is a MODERATE (CVSS 6.5) directus' insufficient permission checks can vulnerability (CWE-287: Improper Authentication) affecting Directus libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves directus' insufficient permission checks can enable unauthenticated users to manually trigger flows. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 11.9.0.

CVE-2025-53889 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2025-53889
GHSA Identifier GHSA-7cvf-pxgp-42fc
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 6.5
CWE Classification CWE-287: Improper Authentication
Affected Product Directus
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 6.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
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-2025-53889

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: 11.9.0 
npm install directus@11.9.0
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-2025-53889, 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 11.9.0), 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-287: Improper Authentication, where when an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct. 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 Directus Flows with a manual trigger are not validating whether the user triggering the Flow has permissions to the items provided as payload to the Flow. Depending on what the Flow is set up to do this can lead to the Flow executing potential tasks on the attacker's behalf without authenticating. ### Impact Bad actors could execute the manual trigger Flows without authentication, or access rights to the said collection(s) or item(s). Users with manual trigger Flows configured are impacted as these endpoints do not currently validate if the user has read access to `directus_flows` or to the relevant collection/items. The manual trigger Flows should have tighter security requirements as compared to webhook Flows where users are expected to perform do their own checks. ### Workarounds Users have to implement permission checks for read access to Flows and read access to relevant collection/items.

CVE-2025-53889 Affected Directus Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
11.9.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
directus
npm/directus
npm
< 11.9.0
11.9.0

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/directus/directus/security/advisories/GHSA-7cvf-pxgp-42fc
NVD — CVE-2025-53889 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-53889
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/directus/directus/commit/22be460c76957708d67fdd52846a9ad1cbb083fb
Directus Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/directus/directus
Directus Release RELEASE
https://github.com/directus/directus/releases/tag/v11.9.0

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-53889?
CVE-2025-53889 is a security vulnerability in Directus involving Directus' insufficient permission checks can enable unauthenticated users to manually trigger Flows under CWE-287: Improper Authentication.
Which Directus versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 11.9.0 across affected packages: directus.
What version fixes CVE-2025-53889?
Upgrading to 11.9.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is directus affected?
Yes, directus is affected in releases prior to 11.9.0. Upgrade your dependency to 11.9.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-53889?
CVE-2025-53889 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-53889?
CVE-2025-53889 is classified under CWE-287: Improper Authentication (When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.).
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2025-53889?
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
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-7cvf-pxgp-42fc",
  "modified" : "2025-07-15T15:37:00Z",
  "published" : "2025-07-15T15:36:59Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-53889" ],
  "summary" : "Directus' insufficient permission checks can enable unauthenticated users to manually trigger Flows",
  "details" : "### Summary\n\nDirectus Flows with a manual trigger are not validating whether the user triggering the Flow has permissions to the items provided as payload to the Flow. Depending on what the Flow is set up to do this can lead to the Flow executing potential tasks on the attacker's behalf without authenticating.\n\n### Impact\n\nBad actors could execute the manual trigger Flows without authentication, or access rights to the said collection(s) or item(s).\n\nUsers with manual trigger Flows configured are impacted as these endpoints do not currently validate if the user has read access to `directus_flows` or to the relevant collection/items. The manual trigger Flows should have tighter security requirements as compared to webhook Flows where users are expected to perform do their own checks.\n\n### Workarounds\nUsers have to implement permission checks for read access to Flows and read access to relevant collection/items.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "directus"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "11.9.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/directus/directus/security/advisories/GHSA-7cvf-pxgp-42fc"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-53889"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/directus/directus/commit/22be460c76957708d67fdd52846a9ad1cbb083fb"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/directus/directus"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/directus/directus/releases/tag/v11.9.0"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-285", "CWE-287" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2025-07-15T15:36:59Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2025-07-15T00:15:23Z"
  }
}