Summary
SurrealDB vulnerable to Uncontrolled CPU Consumption via WebSocket Interface
SurrealDB depends on the tungstenite and tokio-tungstenite crates used by the axum crate, which handles connections to the SurrealDB WebSocket interface. On versions before 0.20.1, the tungstenite crate presented an issue which allowed the parsing of HTTP headers during the client handshake to continuously consume high CPU when the headers were very long. All affected crates have been updated in SurrealDB version 1.1.0.
From the original advisory for CVE-2023-43669:
"The Tungstenite crate through 0.20.0 for Rust allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (minutes of CPU consumption) via an excessive length of an HTTP header in a client handshake. The length affects both how many times a parse is attempted (e.g., thousands of times) and the average amount of data for each parse attempt (e.g., millions of bytes)."
Workarounds
Users unable to update may be able to limit access to the WebSocket interface (i.e. the /rpc endpoint) via reverse proxy if not in use or only used by a limited number of trusted clients. Alternatively, a reverse proxy may be used to strip or truncate request headers exceeding a reasonable length before reaching the SurrealDB server.
References
Impact
A remote unauthenticated attacker may cause a SurrealDB server that exposes its WebSocket interface to consume high CPU by sending an HTTP request with a very long header to the WebSocket interface, potentially leading to denial of service.
GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). 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 (1.1.0); 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.
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- Version 1.1.0 and later are not affected by this issue.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4? GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4 is a high-severity security vulnerability in surrealdb (rust), affecting versions < 1.1.0. It is fixed in 1.1.0.
- How severe is GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4? GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (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.
- Which versions of surrealdb are affected by GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4? surrealdb (rust) versions < 1.1.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4? Yes. GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4 is fixed in 1.1.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4 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 GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4 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 GHSA-58J9-J2FJ-V8F4? Upgrade
surrealdbto 1.1.0 or later.