{"id":"GHSA-f82j-v89j-mf86","title":"SurrealDB: `RELATE` overwrites existing edge records without `UPDATE` permission","summary":"SurrealDB: `RELATE` overwrites existing edge records without `UPDATE` permission","severity":"medium","cvss":4.3,"cwe":["CWE-285"],"vendor":"surrealdb","product":"surrealdb","ecosystem":"rust","affected":["surrealdb < 3.1.0"],"patched":["surrealdb 3.1.0"],"published":"2026-07-01","updated":"2026-07-01","source":"GHSA","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-f82j-v89j-mf86","references":[{"url":"https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/security/advisories/GHSA-f82j-v89j-mf86"},{"url":"https://github.com/surrealdb/surrealdb/commit/79aef90d9baf56147d21f6dcea7a59189ade0eb3"},{"url":"https://github.com/orgs/surrealdb/discussions/110"},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-f82j-v89j-mf86"}],"tags":["ghsa","rust"],"ingestedAt":"2026-07-01T21:17:11.627Z","slug":"GHSA-f82j-v89j-mf86","body":"## Overview\n\n`RELATE` creates an edge record between two existing records, and SurrealDB enforces the `CREATE` permission on the edge table for this operation. When the statement included a `SET id = edge:existing` clause, however, the new edge's id ended up pointing at an record that was already in storage. Rather than failing because the target already existed — which is what a create operation should do — the storage layer silently overwrote the existing edge. A caller with `CREATE` permission could therefore replace any existing edge on the table, even without `UPDATE` permission for that record.\n\n### Impact\n\nAn authenticated user with `CREATE` permission on an edge table could overwrite any existing record on that table — including edges they had no `UPDATE` permission for — by issuing a `RELATE` whose `SET id = …` resolved to the target record's id. The attack is integrity-only.\n\n### Patches\n\nA patch has been introduced that adds an explicit `Statement::Relate` arm using `put_record` instead of `set_record` when the create path is selected. Conflicting writes now return a `RecordExists` error.\n\n- Versions 3.1.0 and later are not affected by this issue.\n\nThis is a behaviour change for applications that relied on RELATE … SET id = … to silently replace existing edges; after the patch those calls return RecordExists instead. Applications that need \"create or replace\" semantics should use UPSERT (which is correctly permission-gated for the update half).\n\n### Workarounds\n\nThe defect only fires when the `RELATE` statement includes a `SET id = …` clause that resolves to an existing edge id. Applications that let SurrealDB auto-generate the edge id (the default — `RELATE a:1 -> edge -> b:1 SET <data>` with no `id` override) are not affected, because auto-generated ids do not collide with existing records.\n\nWhere applications must use `SET id = …` (for example, to produce deterministic edge ids for idempotency), they should first verify that no record with the target id exists before issuing the statement, or restrict `CREATE` permission on the edge table to principals trusted with `UPDATE` on the same table.\n\n## Affected packages\n\n- `surrealdb < 3.1.0`\n\n## Remediation\n\nUpgrade to a patched release:\n\n- `surrealdb 3.1.0`","depth":"sunlit","depthScore":24,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":23.7,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}