The vulnerability arises from how the GraphQL query complexity counter calculates the cost of paging arguments. When a client uses the Relay‑style first/last arguments for pagination, the resolver ignores the configured page‑size limits and scores the query as almost trivial, while the database still executes a full read without any bounded limit. An unauthenticated attacker can therefore issue a complex nested query, such as posts(first: 500) { edges { node { comments(first: 500) … } } }, causing the server to read an unbounded number of records from the database. This results in a denial of service due to excessive CPU and memory consumption during query materialization, classified as a resource‑allocation weakness (CWE‑770).

The flaw exists in the ash‑project ash_graphql library, the GraphQL engine used in the Ash framework. All installations of ash_graphql from version 0.16.23 up until—but not including—version 1.11.0 are affected. The problem is specifically tied to version ranges inclusive of 0.16.23 through 1.10.x. Users running earlier versions (prior to 0.16.23) or the patched releases 1.11.0 and later are not impacted.

The CVSS score of 8.7 denotes high severity, while the EPSS score is currently not available. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog, suggesting that there is no confirmed exploitation in the wild yet, but the impact remains substantial. An attacker needs only unauthenticated access to the GraphQL endpoint and knowledge of the schema to craft a query that triggers the bypass. Once executed, the server may consume excessive resources, causing service unavailable conditions for legitimate clients.