CVE-2017-12635
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…
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- apache
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.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.0 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 99.8% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (4 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.8.
Weakness
- Information Disclosure
- CWE-269 (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-269 and its CVEs
Affected products
Apache Software Foundation · Apache CouchDB
- affected 1.2.0 to 1.6.1
- affected 2.0.0 to 2.1.0
References (7)
- 44498 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 45019 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- [dev] 20171114 Apache CouchDB CVE-2017-12635 and CVE-2017-12636 (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- GLSA-201711-16 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20180121 [SECURITY] [DLA 1252-1] couchdb security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- 101868 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbmu03935en_us (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2017-12635)Record last updated .