SurrealDB Affected by Confused Deputy Privilege Escalation through Future Fields and Functions
Date: 2026-01
Affected: rust/surrealdb, rust/surrealdb
Attack vector: data-exfiltration
Category: vulnerability-disclosure
Severity: High
CWE: CWE-441

Unprivileged users (for example, those with the database editor role) can create or modify fields in records that contain functions or `futures`. `Futures` are values which are only computed when the value is queried. The query executes in the context of the querying user, rather than the user who originally defined the future. Likewise, fields containing functions or custom-defined logic (`closures`) are executed under the privileges of the invoking user, not the creator. This results in a confused deputy vulnerability: an attacker with limited privileges can define a malicious function or future field that performs privileged actions. When a higher-privileged user (such as a root owner or namespace administrator) executes the function or queries or modifies that record, the function executes with their elevated permissions. ### Impact An attacker who can create or update function/future fields can plant logic that executes with a privileged user’s context. If a privileged user performs a write that touches the malicious field, the attacker can achieve full privilege escalation (e.g., create a root owner and take over the server). If a privileged user performs a read action on the malicious field, this attack vector could still be potentially be used to perform limited denial of service or, in the specific case where the network capability was explicitly enabled and unrestricted, exfiltrate database information over the network. ### Patches Versions prior to 2.5.0 and


Mitigations:

Architectural layers (MAESTRO):