CVE-2026-1170: 
NixOS vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2026-1170 is an information disclosure vulnerability in birkir/prime, an open-source self-hosted headless CMS with a GraphQL interface. The vulnerability affects all versions of prime up to and including 0.4.0.beta.0, specifically in the /graphql endpoint of the GraphQL API component. It was reported via a GitHub issue on January 3, 2026, and published as a CVE on January 19, 2026. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (Medium) and a CVSS v4.0 score of 5.5 (Medium), assigned by VulDB (GitHub Issue, Red Hat Advisory).

The root cause is that the prime CMS GraphQL API has introspection queries enabled without any access control restrictions, classified under CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor) and CWE-284 (Improper Access Control). GraphQL introspection is a built-in feature that allows clients to query the schema structure — including all types, fields, and relationships — and when left unrestricted, it exposes the full API schema to any unauthenticated remote attacker. An attacker can send a crafted HTTP POST request with an introspection query payload to the /graphql endpoint to enumerate the entire schema. A public proof-of-concept exploit demonstrating this technique was included in the original GitHub issue report (GitHub Issue).

Successful exploitation allows unauthenticated remote attackers to enumerate the complete GraphQL API schema, including all types, fields, queries, and mutations exposed by the CMS. This schema disclosure can facilitate further targeted attacks by revealing the data model and available operations, potentially enabling attackers to craft precise queries to extract content, user data, or other sensitive information managed by the CMS. The impact is limited to confidentiality (low), with no direct integrity or availability impact (Red Hat Advisory).

A public proof-of-concept exploit is available in the GitHub issue report, consisting of a simple curl command that sends a GraphQL introspection query to the /graphql endpoint without any authentication. The EPSS score is approximately 0.03%, indicating a low probability of active exploitation in the near term. There is no evidence of in-the-wild exploitation at this time, no known threat actor attribution, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. The project maintainer had not responded to the disclosure as of the CVE publication date (GitHub Issue, Red Hat Advisory).

1. Reconnaissance: Identify internet-facing instances of birkir/prime CMS (version ≤ 0.4.0.beta.0) using search engines like Shodan or Censys, or by identifying the /graphql endpoint on known targets.
2. Confirm GraphQL endpoint: Send a basic HTTP GET or POST request to http://<target>/graphql to confirm the endpoint is active and responding.
3. Send introspection query: Issue a POST request with a GraphQL introspection payload to enumerate the full schema:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "query cop { __schema { types { name fields { name } } } }", "operationName": "cop"}' \
  'http://<target>/graphql'

4. Analyze schema response: Parse the JSON response to identify all exposed types, fields, queries, and mutations, building a map of the API's data model.
5. Craft targeted queries: Use the discovered schema to formulate specific GraphQL queries targeting sensitive data fields (e.g., user records, content, credentials) for further data extraction (GitHub Issue).

• Network: Unusual HTTP POST requests to /graphql containing __schema, __type, or introspection-related keywords in the request body; requests with User-Agent: oxpecker (as used in the public PoC).
• Logs: Web server or application logs showing repeated POST requests to /graphql from a single IP or multiple IPs with introspection query payloads; large JSON responses from the /graphql endpoint indicating schema dump activity.
• Process/Application: Absence of rate limiting or authentication errors in GraphQL logs for introspection queries, indicating unrestricted access to schema enumeration.

The primary remediation is to upgrade birkir/prime to a version newer than 0.4.0.beta.0 once a patched release is available; however, as of the CVE publication date, the project maintainer had not yet responded to the disclosure. As an immediate workaround, administrators should disable GraphQL introspection in the application configuration or restrict access to the /graphql endpoint via network-level controls (e.g., firewall rules, reverse proxy ACLs). Deploying a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests containing __schema or __type introspection keywords is also recommended. Monitoring for suspicious introspection queries in application logs should be implemented as a detective control (GitHub Issue, Red Hat Advisory).

A security advisory was published by the zast.ai security research team covering unpatched vulnerabilities in the Prime CMS GraphQL implementation, providing additional context on the disclosure. Red Hat tracked the CVE in their security advisory database. No significant broader media coverage or notable researcher commentary beyond the original GitHub issue and VulDB entry has been observed (Red Hat Advisory, zast.ai Advisory).