CVE-2026-35409

A Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) protection bypass has been identified and fixed in Directus. The IP address validation mechanism used to block requests to local and private networks could be circumvented using IPv4-Mapped IPv6 address notation.

Details

Directus implements an IP deny-list to prevent server-side requests to internal/private network ranges. The validation logic failed to normalize IPv4-Mapped IPv6 addresses (e.g., the IPv6 representation of 127.0.0.1) before checking them against the deny-list. Because the deny-list check did not recognize these mapped addresses as equivalent to their IPv4 counterparts, an attacker could bypass the restriction while the underlying HTTP client and operating system still resolved and connected to the intended private target.

This has been fixed by adding a normalization step that converts IPv4-Mapped IPv6 addresses to their canonical IPv4 form prior to validation.

An authenticated user (or an unauthenticated user if public file-import permissions are enabled) could exploit this bypass to perform SSRF attacks against internal services on the same host (databases, caches, internal APIs) or cloud instance metadata endpoints (e.g., AWS/GCP/Azure IMDS).

The application does not adequately validate input before processing it, allowing unexpected values to reach sensitive code paths. Typical impact: varies by context: data corruption, logic bypass, or denial of service.

CVE-2026-35409 has a CVSS score of 7.7 (High). The vector is network-reachable, low 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 (11.16.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

1. What is CVE-2026-35409? CVE-2026-35409 is a high-severity improper input validation vulnerability in directus (npm), affecting versions < 11.16.0. It is fixed in 11.16.0. The application does not adequately validate input before processing it, allowing unexpected values to reach sensitive code paths.
2. How severe is CVE-2026-35409? CVE-2026-35409 has a CVSS score of 7.7 (High). 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.
3. Which versions of directus are affected by CVE-2026-35409? directus (npm) versions < 11.16.0 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2026-35409? Yes. CVE-2026-35409 is fixed in 11.16.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2026-35409 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-35409 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
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2026-35409 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.
7. How do I fix CVE-2026-35409? Upgrade directus to 11.16.0 or later.