CVE-2022-26969 in Directus
Summary
by MITRE • 12/26/2022
In Directus before 9.7.0, the default settings of CORS_ORIGIN and CORS_ENABLED are true.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/01/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-26969 affects Directus versions prior to 9.7.0 and stems from insecure default configuration settings that expose the application to cross-origin resource sharing attacks. This issue specifically involves the CORS_ORIGIN and CORS_ENABLED parameters which are configured to true by default, creating a potential security risk that could allow unauthorized cross-origin requests to be processed by the application server.
The technical flaw resides in the application's default security posture where Cross-Origin Resource Sharing is enabled without proper origin validation. When CORS_ENABLED is set to true, the application will accept requests from any origin that sends a CORS preflight request, while CORS_ORIGIN being set to true indicates that the application will process requests from multiple origins without adequate verification. This misconfiguration allows malicious actors to exploit the application's CORS policy by crafting requests from unauthorized domains, potentially leading to data exfiltration or other malicious activities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation as it creates a foundational security weakness that can be exploited to bypass web application firewalls and other security controls. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to perform cross-site request forgery attacks, steal sensitive data through cross-origin requests, or manipulate application behavior by injecting requests from malicious origins. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it affects the core application security configuration rather than a specific function or module, meaning that all application endpoints become potentially vulnerable to cross-origin attacks.
Organizations using Directus versions before 9.7.0 should immediately update to the patched version to resolve this vulnerability. The mitigation strategy involves explicitly configuring the CORS_ORIGIN parameter to restrict requests to known and trusted origins only, while ensuring that CORS_ENABLED is set appropriately based on the application's security requirements. Security teams should also implement additional monitoring for unusual cross-origin requests and conduct regular security audits to verify that CORS policies are properly configured. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-346, which addresses improper validation of critical data, and can be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1566 for social engineering attacks that exploit CORS misconfigurations. The issue represents a classic example of insecure default configurations that can be exploited to undermine fundamental web application security controls.