CVE-2023-45820 Directus crashes on invalid WebSocket message
An attacker can crash the Directus application by sending invalid WebSocket frames, requiring websockets to be enabled.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-45820?
CVE-2023-45820 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Monospace Directus, published on 19 Oct 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Directus is a real-time API and App dashboard for managing SQL database content. In affected versions any Directus installation that has websockets enabled can be crashed if the websocket server receives an invalid frame. A malicious user could leverage this bug to crash Directus. This issue has been addressed in version 10.6.2. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should avoid using websockets.
Weakness: CWE-755
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-45820?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including directus. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
directus npm | From 10.4.0 | 10.6.2 |
directus npm | From 10.4.0 | 10.6.2 |
Products include Monospace Directus.
How do I fix CVE-2023-45820?
Upgrade directus to 10.6.2 or later.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2023-45820 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-45820 exists.
Other vulnerabilities in Monospace Directus
- CVE-2022-26969 Insecure default value for CORS configuration
- CVE-2025-55746 Directus allows unauthenticated file upload and file modification due to lacking input sanitization
- CVE-2026-35408 Directus is Missing Cross-Origin Opener Policy
- CVE-2026-61836 Directus: Authorization-dependent response served from unsegmented cache key
- CVE-2025-30353 Directus's webhook trigger flows can leak sensitive data
Sources
Also known as GHSA-hmgw-9jrg-hf2m.