SurrealDB: Graph traversal bypasses table SELECT permissions

An authenticated record or scope user could read records on any table reachable through a graph edge or `REFERENCES TO` back-reference, regardless of that table's `PERMISSIONS FOR select` clause. Traversing `SELECT * FROM source->edge->target` returned full documents from `target` even when `target` was defined as `PERMISSIONS FOR select NONE`. The same bypass extended through multi-hop chains, so any table reachable by a sequence of edges from a readable starting point was exposed. The root cause: `GraphEdgeScan` and `ReferenceScan` fetched records straight from storage without routing them through `Document::pluck_select`, so the target table's permission expression was never consulted. ### Impact An authenticated record or scope user can read records on any table reachable through a chain of graph edges or back-references from a table they have `select` on, regardless of the target's `PERMISSIONS FOR select` clause. Confidentiality-only and bounded to the caller's current database — namespace and database isolation are unaffected. ### Patches A new per-batch permission cache (`exec::permission::CachedTableSelect`) resolves each target table's `SELECT` permission once and filters yielded values through `check_permission_for_value`, matching the regular `SELECT` code path. - Versions 3.1.0 and later are not affected. ### Workarounds - Remove `select` permission on edge tables whose targets should be hidden. - Use namespace or database isolation as the primary boundary where feasible.

Source published

1 Jul 2026 20:10:34 UTC

Source modified

4 Sep 2026 20:40:32 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:54 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Publisher rating · MODERATE