CVE-2026-118550

Drupal AI Search result caching can cross user access boundaries

Drupal maintainers · AI Search submodule and standalone AI Search

First documented disclosure · Review checkpoint

Summary

Cached semantic-search results can expose titles and fields of restricted content.

Severity and exploitation evidence

Unknown · numeric CVSS score not recorded. Severity source.

Exploitation not established: Drupal labels exploitation theoretical; reviewed sources establish neither malicious exploitation nor a confirmed victim.

Exploitation evidence source

Technical severity is not a measure of observed attacks or of risk to your deployment. Attempts, demonstrations, and successful compromise retain the qualifications in the source.

How the weakness works

Search result access checks are not incorporated into the cache variation for Search API views.

Conditions required

AI Search with a Search API view using time-based, tag-based or combined result caching; a permitted user must have run the same search within the cache lifetime.

Potential impact

Restricted or unpublished result titles and displayed fields can be shown to users without access.

Affected versions and configurations

AI module before 1.4.11, or 1.5.0 through 1.5.1. The vendor also identifies the same flaw in standalone AI Search.

Fix and mitigation status

AI 1.4.11/1.5.2; standalone AI Search 1.3.0-alpha6 or 2.0.0-alpha3 for the corresponding branch.

Practical next steps

Upgrade the applicable module and review cached result exposure. Use Search API (none) caching until fixed; consider the supported standalone replacement for the deprecated embedded submodule.

Operating lesson

Access checks and cache keys must agree on which user can see each result.

Evidence and limits

The vendor advisory was public 2026-10-28; October 30 is later CNA publication. Drupal rates this Moderately critical 10/25 under its own risk system, not CVSS; no numeric CVSS is inferred. Default Search API (none), RAG tools, AI Assistant RAG actions and custom Search API queries are explicitly unaffected. Standalone branch fixes come from the vendor advisory; the CNA affected list describes the bundled AI module.

Sources