CVE-2024-32971: Apollo Router vulnerable to Critical Regression In Query Plan Cache

Should you act?

Critical and remotely reachable

No known exploitation yet, but it is network-reachable without credentials. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.

• No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog and CISA’s SSVC assessment records no known exploitation. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
• EPSS 0.7%, percentile 54: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.7% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 54% of all scored CVEs (moderate). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
• Remotely reachable with no login and no user interaction. If the vulnerable service is exposed to the internet, prioritize it.
• Only applies if your dependency tree includes apollo-router (crates.io (Rust)) >= 1.44.0, < 1.45.1, fixed in 1.45.1. Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

What it is

Apollo Router is a configurable, graph router written in Rust to run a federated supergraph that uses Apollo Federation 2. The affected versions of Apollo Router contain a bug that in limited circumstances, could lead to unexpected operations being executed which can result in unintended data or effects. This only affects Router instances configured to use distributed query plan caching. The root cause of this defect is a bug in Apollo Router’s cache retrieval logic: When this defect is present and distributed query planning caching is enabled, asking the Router to execute an operation (whether it is a query, a mutation, or a subscription) may result in an unexpected variation of that operation being executed or the generation of unexpected errors. The issue stems from inadvertently executing a modified version of a previously executed operation, whose query plan is stored in the underlying cache (specifically, Redis). Depending on the type of the operation, the result may vary. For a query, results may be fetched that don’t match what was requested (e.g., rather than running fetchUsers(type: ENTERPRISE) the Router may run fetchUsers(type: TRIAL). For a mutation, this may result in incorrect mutations being sent to underlying subgraph servers (e.g., rather than sending deleteUser(id: 10) to a subgraph, the Router may run deleteUser(id: 12). Users who are using distributed query plan caching, are advised to either upgrade to version 1.45.1 or above or downgrade to version 1.43.2 of the Apollo Router. Apollo Router versions 1.44.0 or 1.45.0 are not recommended for use and have been withdrawn. Users unable to upgrade can disable distributed query plan caching to mitigate this issue.

From the GitHub advisory

Impact Any instance of Apollo Router 1.44.0 or 1.45.0 that is using Distributed Query Plan Caching is impacted. These versions were released on 2024-04-12 and 2024-04-22 respectively.

The affected versions of Apollo Router contain a bug that could lead to unexpected operations being executed, which can result in unintended data or effects. This only affects Router instances configured to use distributed query plan caching. Router versions other than the ones listed above, and all Router deployments that are not using distributed query plan caching, are unaffected by this defect.

If you are using the affected versions, you can check your router’s configuration YAML to verify if you are impacted:

A full reference on the Distributed Query Plan Caching feature is available here.

Impact detail The root cause of this defect is a bug in Apollo Router’s cache retrieval logic: When this defect is present and distributed query planning caching is enabled, asking the Router to execute an operation (whether it is a query, a mutation, or a subscription) may result in an unexpected variation of that operation being executed or the generation of unexpected errors.

Weakness type: CWE-670, CWE-440.

Product: apollo-router (crates.io (Rust)) · Assigned by: GitHub_M · Published: 2024-05-02

Affected and fixed versions

Severity scores

• Attack vector: network (remotely reachable)
• Attack complexity: high (needs special conditions)
• Privileges required: none (no login)
• User interaction: none
• Scope: changed (can affect other components)

CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.

Exploitation and urgency

• CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
• CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation none, automatable no, technical impact total.
• FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.73% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 54.

Timeline

• 2024-05-02 — CVE record published by GitHub_M
• 2024-05-02 — GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-q9p4-hw9m-fj2v published (critical)
• 2024-08-02 — CVE record last updated

Sources and references

Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.

Vulnerability records

1. GitHub Advisory GHSA-q9p4-hw9m-fj2v github.com
2. CVE.org record CVE-2024-32971 cve.org
3. NVD entry CVE-2024-32971 nvd.nist.gov

Other references from the CVE record and advisory

1. github.com github.com
2. github.com github.com
3. github.com github.com
4. apollographql.com apollographql.com

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