# GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh: Directus: Unauthenticated Denial of Service via GraphQL Alias Amplification of Expensive Health Check Resolver

> Unauthenticated attackers can cause denial of service by exploiting GraphQL alias amplification to exhaust system resources.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 4 Apr 2026

## What is GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh?

GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh is a denial of service vulnerability in directus, published on 4 Apr 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

## Summary

The GraphQL specification permits a single query to repeat the same field multiple times using aliases, with each alias resolved independently by default. Directus did not deduplicate resolver invocations within a single request, meaning each alias triggered a full, independent execution of the underlying resolver.

The health check resolver ran all backend checks (database connectivity, cache, storage writes, and SMTP verification) on every invocation. Combined with unauthenticated access to the system GraphQL endpoint, this allowed an attacker to amplify resource consumption significantly from a single HTTP request, exhausting the database connection pool, storage I/O, and SMTP connections.

## Fix

A request-scoped resolver deduplication mechanism was introduced and applied broadly across all GraphQL read resolvers, both system and items endpoints. When multiple aliases in a single request invoke the same resolver with identical arguments, only the first call executes; all subsequent aliases share its result. This eliminates the amplification factor regardless of how many aliases an attacker includes in a query.

## Impact

- **Service degradation or outage:** Database connection pool exhaustion prevents all Directus operations for all users
- **Storage I/O saturation:** Concurrent file writes can overwhelm disk I/O
- **SMTP resource exhaustion:** Concurrent SMTP verification calls may overwhelm the mail server
- **No authentication required:** Any network-accessible attacker can trigger this condition
- **Single-request impact:** A single request is sufficient to cause significant resource consumption

## Credit

This vulnerability was discovered and reported by [bugbunny.ai](https://bugbunny.ai).

## Which versions are affected by GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including directus.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `directus` | npm | All versions | 11.17.0 |
| `directus` | npm | All versions | 11.17.0 |

## How do I fix GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh?

Upgrade directus to 11.17.0 or later.

## Is GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh is a denial of service vulnerability in directus, published on 4 Apr 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- directus (npm): affected all versions; fixed in 11.17.0
- directus (npm): affected all versions; fixed in 11.17.0

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh/index.md)
```

## Sources

- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/GHSA-6q22-g298-grjh/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.