CVE-2023-50730 Typelevel Grackle
| Affected software | Typelevel Grackle |
|---|---|
| Severity | 7.5 High CVSS 3.1 2 scores |
| Fixed in | 0.18.0 |
| Weakness | Uncontrolled resource consumption (CWE-400) |
| Published | 22 Dec 2023 |
| Updated | 17 Jun 2026 |
Description
Grackle is a GraphQL server written in functional Scala, built on the Typelevel stack. The GraphQL specification requires that GraphQL fragments must not form cycles, either directly or indirectly. Prior to Grackle version 0.18.0, that requirement wasn't checked, and queries with cyclic fragments would have been accepted for type checking and compilation. The attempted compilation of such fragments would result in a JVM StackOverflowError being thrown. Some knowledge of an applications GraphQL schema would be required to construct such a query, however no knowledge of any application-specific performance or other behavioural characteristics would be needed.
Grackle uses the cats-parse library for parsing GraphQL queries. Prior to version 0.18.0, Grackle made use of the cats-parse recursive operator. However, recursive is not currently stack safe. recursive was used in three places in the parser: nested selection sets, nested input values (lists and objects), and nested list type declarations. Consequently, queries with deeply nested selection sets, input values or list types could be constructed which exploited this, causing a JVM StackOverflowException to be thrown during parsing. Because this happens very early in query processing, no specific knowledge of an applications GraphQL schema would be required to construct such a query.
The possibility of small queries resulting in stack overflow is a potential denial of service vulnerability. This potentially affects all applications using Grackle which have untrusted users. Both stack overflow issues have been resolved in the v0.18.0 release of Grackle. As a workaround, users could interpose a sanitizing layer in between untrusted input and Grackle query processing.
CWE-770
Exploitation status
No public exploit
No exploit has been reported in the sources we check. Published 2 years ago.
Exploitation status
- CISA KEV not listed
- VulnCheck KEV not listed
- CISA Vulnrichment no assessment published
- Indexed PoC none indexed
- EPSS 0.83% chance in 30 days
Waratek protection
Within Waratek scope. In the sources we check, nobody has published exploit code for this CVE or reported it being exploited.
A public code fix exists: typelevel/grackle 56e244b.
- Protection none
- Action unverified
- Review automated Upstream data
- Record active
| Decided by | Exploit code for this candidate, published in a reviewed catalogue or a GitHub repository with 5 or more stars, or in use per CISA or VulnCheck; not only a CISA verdict, a forecast, or nothing at all |
|---|---|
| Finding | This CVE is not listed in CISA KEV or VulnCheck KEV, CISA Vulnrichment records no active exploitation, no reviewed exploit catalogue carries an entry for it, and no GitHub PoC repository for it has 5 or more stars. Nobody has published exploit code worth tracing, so it is not a candidate for a rule ahead of the ones where somebody has; an upstream fix path does exist, so the remediation half of the candidacy still holds. This is a statement about what has been published, not about whether the defect is reachable or serious. |
| Candidate fix | https://github.com/typelevel/grackle/commit/56e244b91659cf385df590fc6c46695b6f36cbfd : a commit: the change itself |
CVSS
7.5 HIGH
v3.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
2 metrics
CVSS
7.5 HIGH v3.1CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
2 metrics
We show the highest score from the newest CVSS version. Scores from different versions can't be compared, and the first score listed is sometimes a 0.0 placeholder.
| Version | Score | Band | Vector | Assigner | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | 7.5 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
security-advisories@github.com | Secondary | published |
| CVSS 3.1 | 7.5 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
NVD | Primary |
Affected software and releases
Maven packages
Affected and fixed versions, from OSV.dev| Package | Introduced | Fixed | Last affected |
|---|---|---|---|
org.typelevel:grackle-core_2.13 |
0 | 0.18.0 |
unbounded |
org.typelevel:grackle-core_3 |
0 | 0.18.0 |
unbounded |
org.typelevel:grackle-core_sjs1_2.13 |
0 | 0.18.0 |
unbounded |
org.typelevel:grackle-core_sjs1_3 |
0 | 0.18.0 |
unbounded |
org.typelevel:grackle-core_native0.4_2.13 |
0 | 0.18.0 |
unbounded |
org.typelevel:grackle-core_native0.4_3 |
0 | 0.18.0 |
unbounded |
edu.gemini:gsp-graphql-core_2.13 |
0 | none | 0.14.0 |
edu.gemini:gsp-graphql-core_3 |
0 | none | 0.14.0 |
edu.gemini:gsp-graphql-core_sjs1_2.13 |
0 | none | 0.14.0 |
edu.gemini:gsp-graphql-core_sjs1_3 |
0 | none | 0.14.0 |
edu.gemini:gsp-graphql-core_native0.4_2.13 |
0 | none | 0.14.0 |
edu.gemini:gsp-graphql-core_native0.4_3 |
0 | none | 0.14.0 |
Products and versions
13 products, 13 version entries| Source | Vendor | Product | Scheme | Affected versions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| osv | edu.gemini | gsp-graphql-core_2.13 | generic | ≤ 0.14.0 |
| osv | edu.gemini | gsp-graphql-core_3 | generic | ≤ 0.14.0 |
| osv | edu.gemini | gsp-graphql-core_native0.4_2.13 | generic | ≤ 0.14.0 |
| osv | edu.gemini | gsp-graphql-core_native0.4_3 | generic | ≤ 0.14.0 |
| osv | edu.gemini | gsp-graphql-core_sjs1_2.13 | generic | ≤ 0.14.0 |
| osv | edu.gemini | gsp-graphql-core_sjs1_3 | generic | ≤ 0.14.0 |
| osv | org.typelevel | grackle-core_2.13 | generic | < 0.18.0 |
| osv | org.typelevel | grackle-core_3 | generic | < 0.18.0 |
| osv | org.typelevel | grackle-core_native0.4_2.13 | generic | < 0.18.0 |
| osv | org.typelevel | grackle-core_native0.4_3 | generic | < 0.18.0 |
| osv | org.typelevel | grackle-core_sjs1_2.13 | generic | < 0.18.0 |
| osv | org.typelevel | grackle-core_sjs1_3 | generic | < 0.18.0 |
| nvd | typelevel | grackle | generic | < 0.18.0 |
References
Timeline
Timeline
| Published | 2023-12-22 | By the CVE Program. |
|---|---|---|
| NVD record modified | 2026-06-17 | NVD's own last-modified date for this record. |