Summary
Apollo Router Unnamed "Subscription" operation results in Denial-of-Service
Discovery
This vulnerability was discovered by an internal Apollo team. We have no reports or evidence to support that that has been exploited outside of our own testing, research and follow-up.
Our public security policy can be reviewed at https://github.com/apollographql/router/security/policy and we consider the security of our projects a top priority. Please review the linked policy for more details.
Workarounds
Updating to v1.29.1 should be a clear and simple upgrade path for those running impacted versions. However, if Subscriptions are not necessary for your Graph, but are enabled via configuration, then disabling subscriptions is another option to mitigate the risk.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in the
routerrepository - Email us at
security[at]apollographql[dot]com
Impact
This is a Denial-of-Service (DoS) type vulnerability which causes the Router to panic and terminate when GraphQL Subscriptions are enabled. It can be triggered when all of the following conditions are met:
- Running Apollo Router v1.28.0, v1.28.1 or v1.29.0 ("impacted versions"); and
- The Supergraph schema provided to the Router (either via Apollo Uplink or explicitly via other configuration) has a
subscriptiontype with root-fields defined; and - The YAML configuration provided to the Router has subscriptions enabled (they are disabled by default), either by setting
enabled: trueor by setting a validmodewithin thesubscriptionsobject (as seen in subscriptions' documentation); and - An anonymous (i.e., un-named)
subscriptionoperation (e.g.,subscription { ... }) is received by the Router
If all four of these criteria are met, the impacted versions will panic and terminate. There is no data-privacy risk or sensitive-information exposure aspect to this vulnerability.
Depending on the environment in which impacted versions are running and the high-availability characteristics of that environment, a single Router's termination may result in limited or reduced availability or other knock-on effects which are deployment-specific (e.g., depending on if there are multiple instances, auto-restart policies, etc.)
CVE-2023-41317 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.29.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
Already deployed Kodem?
See it in your environmentNew to Kodem? Get a demo →Remediation advice
This is fixed in Apollo Router v1.29.1, which is available on:
- GitHub Releases as
v1.29.1 - GitHub Packages Container Registry as
v1.29.1 - Helm Chart Repository as
1.29.1(without thev)
We recommend all users running the impacted configuration above to update to a patched version of the Router immediately. Router v1.29.1 should be a very simple upgrade from any impacted version.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-41317? CVE-2023-41317 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in apollo-router (rust), affecting versions >= 1.28.0, <= 1.29.0. It is fixed in 1.29.1.
- How severe is CVE-2023-41317? CVE-2023-41317 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of apollo-router are affected by CVE-2023-41317? apollo-router (rust) versions >= 1.28.0, <= 1.29.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-41317? Yes. CVE-2023-41317 is fixed in 1.29.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-41317 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-41317 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2023-41317 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2023-41317? Upgrade
apollo-routerto 1.29.1 or later.