CVE-2023-35933
OpenFGA denial of service die to circular relationship
OPenFGA is an open source authorization/permission engine built for developers. OpenFGA versions v1.1.0 and prior are vulnerable to a DoS attack when Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions. Users are affected by this vulnerability if they are using OpenFGA v1.1.0 or earlier, and if you are executing Check or ListObjects calls against a vulnerable authorization model. Users are advised to upgrade to version 1.1.1. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Users that do not have circular relationships in their models are not affected.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
5.9
OpenFGA denial of service die to circular relationship
OPenFGA is an open source authorization/permission engine built for developers. OpenFGA versions v1.1.0 and prior are vulnerable to a DoS attack when Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions. Users are affected by this vulnerability if they are using OpenFGA v1.1.0 or earlier, and if you are executing Check or ListObjects calls against a vulnerable authorization model. Users are advised to upgrade to version 1.1.1. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Users that do not have circular relationships in their models are not affected.
- Record
CVE-2023-35933- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-1826
5.9
OPenFGA is an open source authorization/permission engine built for developers. OpenFGA versions v1.1.0 and prior are vulnerable to a DoS attack when Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions. Users are affected by this vulnerability if they are using OpenFGA v1.1.0 or earlier, and if you are executing Check or ListObjects calls against a vulnerable authorization model. Users are advised to upgrade to version 1.1.1. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Users that do not have circular relationships in their models are not affected.
- Record
EUVD-2023-1826- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j
5.9
OpenFGA vulnerable to denial of service due to circular relationship
Overview
OpenFGA versions v1.1.0 and prior are vulnerable to a DoS attack when certain Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions.
Am I Affected?
You are affected by this vulnerability if you are using OpenFGA v1.1.0 or earlier, and if you are executing certain Check or ListObjects calls against a vulnerable authorization model. To see which of your models could be vulnerable to this attack, download OpenFGA v1.2.0 and run the following command:
./openfga validate-models --datastore-engine <ENGINE> --datastore-uri <URI> | jq .[] | select(.Error | contains("loop"))
replacing the variables <ENGINE> and <URI> as needed.
Fix
Upgrade to v1.1.1.
Backward Compatibility
If you are not passing an invalid authorization model (as identified by running ./openfga validate-models) as a parameter of your Check and ListObjects calls, this upgrade is backwards compatible.
Otherwise, OpenFGA v1.1.1 will start returning HTTP 400 status codes on those calls.
- Record
GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
5.9
OPenFGA is an open source authorization/permission engine built for developers. OpenFGA versions v1.1.0 and prior are vulnerable to a DoS attack when Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions. Users are affected by this vulnerability if they are using OpenFGA v1.1.0 or earlier, and if you are executing Check or ListObjects calls against a vulnerable authorization model. Users are advised to upgrade to version 1.1.1. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Users that do not have circular relationships in their models are not affected.
- Record
CVE-2023-35933- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - 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 - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
5.9
OpenFGA denial of service die to circular relationship
OPenFGA is an open source authorization/permission engine built for developers. OpenFGA versions v1.1.0 and prior are vulnerable to a DoS attack when Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions. Users are affected by this vulnerability if they are using OpenFGA v1.1.0 or earlier, and if you are executing Check or ListObjects calls against a vulnerable authorization model. Users are advised to upgrade to version 1.1.1. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Users that do not have circular relationships in their models are not affected.
- Record
CVE-2023-35933- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j
5.9
OpenFGA vulnerable to denial of service due to circular relationship
Overview
OpenFGA versions v1.1.0 and prior are vulnerable to a DoS attack when certain Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions.
Am I Affected?
You are affected by this vulnerability if you are using OpenFGA v1.1.0 or earlier, and if you are executing certain Check or ListObjects calls against a vulnerable authorization model. To see which of your models could be vulnerable to this attack, download OpenFGA v1.2.0 and run the following command:
./openfga validate-models --datastore-engine <ENGINE> --datastore-uri <URI> | jq .[] | select(.Error | contains("loop"))
replacing the variables <ENGINE> and <URI> as needed.
Fix
Upgrade to v1.1.1.
Backward Compatibility
If you are not passing an invalid authorization model (as identified by running ./openfga validate-models) as a parameter of your Check and ListObjects calls, this upgrade is backwards compatible.
Otherwise, OpenFGA v1.1.1 will start returning HTTP 400 status codes on those calls.
- Record
GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j- CVSS 3.1
- 5.9 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-835
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-1872 No score
Denial of service in github.com/openfga/openfga
OpenFGA is vulnerable to a denial of service attack when certain Check and ListObjects calls are executed against authorization models that contain circular relationship definitions.
- Record
GO-2023-1872- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/openfga/openfgaGo |
before 1.1.1 | 1.1.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-35933 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.9) in Openfga, published June 26, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.13%, the 66th percentile. Fixed in github.com/openfga/openfga 1.1.1.
References
github.com/openfga/openfga/security/advisories/GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j
github.com/openfga/openfga/commit/087ce392595f3c319ab3028b5089118ea4063452
openfga.dev/api/service
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-35933
github.com/advisories/GHSA-hr9r-8phq-5x8j
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/35xxx/CVE-2023-35933.json
github.com/openfga/openfga