Description
CouchDB administrative users before 2.2.0 can configure the database server via HTTP(S). Due to insufficient validation of administrator-supplied configuration settings via the HTTP API, it is possible for a CouchDB administrator user to escalate their privileges to that of the operating system's user under which CouchDB runs, by bypassing the blacklist of configuration settings that are not allowed to be modified via the HTTP API. This privilege escalation effectively allows a CouchDB admin user to gain arbitrary remote code execution, bypassing CVE-2017-12636 and CVE-2018-8007.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apache Software Foundation | Apache CouchDB | Apache Tomcat 1.x and =2.1.2 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | couchdb | No fix yet | — |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8 | couchdb | 1.7.2-3.6.1 | SUSE-SU-2019:0392-1 |
Advisories 1
- SUSE-SU-2019:0392-1 Security update for couchdb SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
References
- 105046 vdb-entry
- GLSA-201812-06 vendor-advisory
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/1052ad7a1b32b9756df4f7860f5cb5a96b739f444117325a19a4bf75%40%3Cdev.couchdb.apache.org%3E
- https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbmu03935en_us
- FEDORA-2020-83f513fd7e vendor-advisory
- FEDORA-2020-73bd8167a0 vendor-advisory