CVE-2026-35441
MediumCVSS 6.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk29th percentile - higher than 29% of all known CVEs
Summary
Directus before version 11.17.0 does not deduplicate resolver invocations in GraphQL queries. An authenticated user can exploit GraphQL aliasing to repeat expensive relational queries many times, causing database overload and server resource exhaustion.
Risk Assessment
An attacker can cause service degradation or crash by exhausting CPU, memory, and I/O, even with minimal read-only permissions.
Recommendation
Update Directus to version 11.17.0 or later, which includes the resolver deduplication fix.
Original NVD description (English source)
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.