Directus up to 11.16.x GraphQL /graphql resource consumption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Directus up to 11.16.x and classified as problematic. This affects an unknown part of the file /graphql of the component GraphQL. This manipulation causes resource consumption. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-35441. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Directus up to 11.16.x. It has been declared as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown part of the file /graphql of the component GraphQL. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a resource consumption vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-400. The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

Directus is a real-time API and App dashboard for managing SQL database content. Prior to 11.17.0, Directus' GraphQL endpoints (/graphql and /graphql/system) did not deduplicate resolver invocations within a single request. An authenticated user could exploit GraphQL aliasing to repeat an expensive relational query many times in a single request, forcing the server to execute a large number of independent complex database queries concurrently, multiplying database load linearly with the number of aliases. The existing token limit on GraphQL queries still permitted enough aliases for significant resource exhaustion, while the relational depth limit applied per alias without reducing the total number executed. Rate limiting is disabled by default, meaning no built-in throttle prevented this from causing CPU, memory, and I/O exhaustion that could degrade or crash the service. Any authenticated user, including those with minimal read-only permissions, could trigger this condition. This vulnerability is fixed in 11.17.0.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-35441 since 04/02/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1499 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 11.17.0 eliminates this vulnerability.

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Name

• Directus

Version

• 11.0
• 11.1
• 11.2
• 11.3
• 11.4
• 11.5
• 11.6
• 11.7
• 11.8
• 11.9
• 11.10
• 11.11
• 11.12
• 11.13
• 11.14
• 11.15
• 11.16

Website

• Product: https://github.com/directus/directus/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Discussion