Vulnerability in surrealdb (CVE-2025-71396)
Summary
Vulnerability in surrealdb (CVE-2025-71396). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. Exploitable via SURREAL_SCRIPTING_MAX_TIME_LIMIT. Mitigation: upgrade to 2.1.5 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
Through enabling the scripting capability. SurrealDB allows for advanced functions with complicated logic, by allowing embedded functions to be written in JavaScript.
These functions are bounded for memory and stack size, but not in time. An attacker could launch a number of long running functions that could potentially facilitate a Denial Of Service attack.
This vulnerability can only affect SurrealDB servers explicitly enabling the scripting capability with --allow-scripting or
--allow-all and equivalent environment variables SURREAL_CAPS_ALLOW_SCRIPT=true and SURREAL_CAPS_ALLOW_ALL=true.
This issue was discovered and patched during an code audit and penetration test of SurrealDB by cure53, the severity defined within cure53's preliminary finding is Low, matched by our CVSS v4 assessment.
Impact
An attacker can use the scripting capabilities of SurrealDB to run a series of long running functions to facilitate a Denial Of Service attack.
Patches
A default timeout for the scripting functions has been implemented with a configurable SURREAL_SCRIPTING_MAX_TIME_LIMIT environment variable
- Versions 2.0.5, 2.1.5, 2.2.2 and later are not affected by this issue.
Workarounds
For users that cannot upgrade. Deny execution of embedded scripting functions through the configuration of capabilities by starting SurrealDB with the --deny-scripting flag or the equivalent environment vari…
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-71396 has been found in surrealdb.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like SURREAL_SCRIPTING_MAX_TIME_LIMIT over the network to misuse the product.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. CVSS score: 6.5/10.
What to do: upgrade surrealdb to 2.1.5 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "surrealdb CVE-2025-71396" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2025-71396 (surrealdb) — CWE-770 / CVSS v3 6.5
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / no user interaction
Attack surface: SURREAL_SCRIPTING_MAX_TIME_LIMIT
Patched: 2.1.5 — apply immediately
Workaround: For users that cannot upgrade.
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-770) exists in surrealdb. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via SURREAL_SCRIPTING_MAX_TIME_LIMIT.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of surrealdb. Attack surface: SURREAL_SCRIPTING_MAX_TIME_LIMIT.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 6.5/10). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Update to 2.1.5.
Workaround: For users that cannot upgrade.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'surrealdb' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'surrealdb' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
surrealdbを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply temporary workaround mitigate
For users that cannot upgrade.パッチが適用されるまでの応急処置として、For users that cannot upgrade. を実施。回避策の副作用 (機能低下) を確認した上で。
-
3Apply patch patch
Upgrade surrealdb to 2.1.5ステージング環境で 2.1.5 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
4Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
References
- package github.com
- web github.com
- web vulncheck.com
- web nvd.nist.gov
- web github.com
- web github.com