SurrealDB before 3.1.0 evaluates user-supplied WHERE clauses in SELECT statements (and SET/MERGE/CONTENT/PATCH clauses in UPDATE, UPSERT, INSERT ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE, and RELATE update-variant statements) against full record data before enforcing PERMISSIONS FOR SELECT WHERE restrictions. An authenticated user — including Record and Scope users — can exploit this ordering flaw to read the full contents of any table in the database they are authenticated against, bypassing table-level permission checks. Exfiltration is most direct when scripting functions are enabled (--allow-scripting), but is also possible via SurrealQL's THROW statement and timing-based side channels without scripting. The vulnerability is confined to the attacker's current database and does not cross namespace or database isolation boundaries.
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/surrealdb-before-permission-bypass-via-where-clause
https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/security/advisories/GHSA-98fx-66cf-fc7c
Published: 2026-07-20
Updated: 2026-07-21
Base Score: 6.8
Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:N/A:N
Severity: Medium
Base Score: 6.5
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Severity: Medium
Base Score: 7.1
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Severity: High
EPSS: 0.00221