Vulnerability record
CVE-2026-126539
The short answer
CVE-2026-126539 affects directus directus and is rated critical (CVSS 9.2). It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
What it is
Directus before 12.1.0 contains an authorization bypass vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to skip permission checks by sending a failed auth message on public-mode WebSocket connections. Attackers can send an invalid token so handleAuthRequest sets accountability to null, then read, create, update or delete records in any user-defined collection.
Weakness: CWE-636.
Severity
9.2 critical
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Exploited (CISA KEV)
Not listed
CISA lists confirmed exploitation only
EPSS, next 30 days
No score
FIRST scores CVEs within a day of publication
How it can be exploited
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- High
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Affected products
directus. NVD's record lists the exact affected versions.
References
- github.com/directus/directus/blob/v12.0.2/api/src/websocket/controllers/base.ts#L381-L397
- github.com/directus/directus/commit/8d4cd86783bcbf5444eaf290e8dcecb33929300e
- github.com/directus/directus/releases/tag/v12.1.0
- github.com/directus/directus/security/advisories/GHSA-97xr-jchp-xm3c
- www.vulncheck.com/advisories/directus-before-12.1.0-authorization-bypass-via-public-websocket-rest-interface
Questions
Is CVE-2026-126539 being exploited?
It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of 2026-11-11.
How do I fix CVE-2026-126539?
Follow the vendor advisory in the references below. NVD lists the affected versions under its configurations.
From NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS and OSV.dev, checked . Status on NVD: Received. The description is NVD's text, quoted as published.
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