SpiceDB: Caveat structures with nested lists can result in improper cache reuse

Description

Impact

Users are impacted if:

  • They have a caveat structure with a nested list, e.g.:

zed caveat shape(x list<any>) { x == [["a"], "b"] }
- Their system exercises that caveat with either CheckBulkPermission or else LookupResources running with the --experimental-lookup-resources-version flag set to lr3, implying they are using the experimental version 3 of LookupResources
- An attacker can cause the system to craft a request to SpiceDB where either:
1. It's a CheckBulk request where there are two check items that are identical except for their combined caveat context, and one of the caveat contexts evaluates positively and the other evaluates negatively
2. It's a LookupResources request where two resources have the same evaluation contents except for their caveat context, and one would evaluate positively and the other would evaluate negatively

If all of the above are true, it would be possible for SpiceDB to erroneously return that a user has access to a resource that they do not have access to.

Patches

This problem was addressed in https://github.com/authzed/spicedb/pull/3065 and released in version v1.52.0.

Workarounds

If using v3 of LookupResources, turn the flag off.

If possible, refactor the caveat declaration structure so that it does not operate on a list of lists, but rather any other composite structure.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
low
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-05-21 20:28:43 UTC
Updated
2026-06-11 14:05:33 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-05-21 20:28:43 UTC
NVD published
2026-06-10

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.03% 9.06%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
2.3 4.0
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation depends on constrained or hard-to-reproduce conditions.
Attack requirements (AT:P)
Additional preconditions must be present for exploitation.
Privileges required (PR:L)
Low privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:L)
Limited confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:N)
No integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:N)
No availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N)
No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N)
No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-285 Improper Authorization

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
go github.com/authzed/spicedb >= 1.15.0, < 1.52.0 1.52.0

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence