CVE-2026-81636

high

Description

Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in ash-project ash_graphql allows an unauthenticated client to bypass the configured GraphQL query-complexity limit and force an unbounded database read. AshGraphql.Graphql.Resolver.query_complexity/3 multiplies child complexity by the requested page size only when the argument map contains :limit (offset pagination). Relay connections and keyset pagination use first and last, which never match that clause and fall through to the catch-all that returns child_complexity + 1. A nested relay query such as posts(first: 500) { edges { node { comments(first: 500) { ... } } } } therefore scores as trivially cheap while materializing the full fan-out, passing an Absinthe max_complexity cap that rejects the equivalent limit-based query. The fix adds first and last clauses clamped to the action's page size. This issue affects ash_graphql: from 0.16.23 before 1.11.0.

References

https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-81636

https://github.com/ash-project/ash_graphql/security/advisories/GHSA-mwc4-r9fc-h6mg

https://github.com/ash-project/ash_graphql/commit/c3229f6a65cbabb32fd7ffcac881922d1b3b30ad

https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-81636.html

Details

Source: Mitre, NVD

Published: 2026-08-30

Updated: 2026-08-30

Risk Information

CVSS v2

Base Score: 5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Severity: Medium

CVSS v3

Base Score: 7.5

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Severity: High

CVSS v4

Base Score: 8.7

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Severity: High