CVE-2017-12635

9.8 CRITICAL
Published: November 14, 2017 Modified: May 13, 2026
View on NVD

Description

Due to differences in the Erlang-based JSON parser and JavaScript-based JSON parser, it is possible in Apache CouchDB before 1.7.0 and 2.x before 2.1.1 to submit _users documents with duplicate keys for 'roles' used for access control within the database, including the special case '_admin' role, that denotes administrative users. In combination with CVE-2017-12636 (Remote Code Execution), this can be used to give non-admin users access to arbitrary shell commands on the server as the database system user. The JSON parser differences result in behaviour that if two 'roles' keys are available in the JSON, the second one will be used for authorising the document write, but the first 'roles' key is used for subsequent authorization for the newly created user. By design, users can not assign themselves roles. The vulnerability allows non-admin users to give themselves admin privileges.

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CVSS v3.x Details

0.0 Low Medium High Critical 10.0
Vector String
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Patch Vendor Advisory Exploit Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101868
Source: security@apache.org
Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201711-16
Source: security@apache.org
Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101868
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201711-16
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Third Party Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44498/
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45019/
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

14 reference(s) from NVD

Quick Stats

CVSS v3 Score
9.8 / 10.0
EPSS (Exploit Probability)
99.9%
100th percentile
Exploitation Status
Not in CISA KEV

Weaknesses (CWE)

Affected Vendors

apache