{"id":"GHSA-wp87-mgvq-5j93","summary":"SurrealDB: USE NS/DB implicit creation bypasses DEFINE authorization","details":"An anonymous caller could create new namespaces and databases on a running SurrealDB instance without holding `DEFINE NAMESPACE` or `DEFINE DATABASE` permission.\n\n`USE NS \u003cname\u003e` and `USE DB \u003cname\u003e` automatically create the target when it does not exist. The three places `USE` is handled — the RPC `use` method, `Datastore::process_use`, and the SurrealQL executor — did not check whether the caller was allowed to create the resource. Under default capabilities any session reached this path, including an unauthenticated guest.\n\n### Impact\n\nWhat an attacker **can** do:\n\n- Create new namespaces and databases without `DEFINE NAMESPACE` / `DEFINE DATABASE` permission. An unauthenticated guest is enough under default capabilities.\n- Recreate a parent namespace that an operator deliberately dropped, using a stale namespace-Editor token, by running `USE NS \u003cdropped\u003e DB anything`.\n- Exhaust catalog storage by repeatedly creating new resources.\n\nWhat it **can't** do:\n\n- Read or modify data inside any pre-existing namespace or database.\n- Escalate to root or namespace-owner privileges on existing resources.\n- Affect deployments running with `auth_enabled=false`.\n\n### Patches\n\nAll three `USE` entry points now check whether the caller has `DEFINE NAMESPACE` / `DEFINE DATABASE` authority before creating a missing target. Sessions still update their context regardless of authorization, so SDKs that send `use` before `signin` continue to work — only the catalog creation step is gated. The parent-namespace side-effect path is closed by the same check.\n\nVersions 3.1.0 and later are not affected.\n\n### Workarounds\n\n- Set `--deny-arbitrary-query *` for guest principals to remove the entry point.\n- Run with `--auth` and require all callers to `signin` before issuing `use`.\n- Revoke namespace-level tokens promptly when a namespace is dropped.","modified":"2026-07-01T20:30:10.176401408Z","published":"2026-07-01T20:21:25Z","database_specific":{"cwe_ids":["CWE-862","CWE-863"],"severity":"MODERATE","github_reviewed":true,"github_reviewed_at":"2026-07-01T20:21:25Z","nvd_published_at":null},"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/security/advisories/GHSA-wp87-mgvq-5j93"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/commit/f3ee3bd55533c14f1fa3e69ce18fc8904c1ce3f9"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"surrealdb","ecosystem":"crates.io","purl":"pkg:cargo/surrealdb"},"ranges":[{"type":"SEMVER","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"3.1.0"}]}],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/07/GHSA-wp87-mgvq-5j93/GHSA-wp87-mgvq-5j93.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.9.0","severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L"}]}