Couchdb
CVE-2017-12636
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization OS command sanitization, avoid shell exec
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 1 tactic: Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.2 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. EPSS exploitation probability: 93.81%. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
CouchDB administrative users can configure the database server via HTTP(S). Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and EPSS exploitation probability 93.8%.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Avoid passing user input to shell commands. Use language-specific APIs instead of shell execution. Apply strict input validation with allowlists.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as OS Command Injection (CWE-78), which allows attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host. CouchDB administrative users can configure the database server via HTTP(S). Some of the configuration options include paths for operating system-level binaries that are subsequently launched by CouchDB. This allows an admin user in Apache CouchDB before 1.7.0 and 2.x before 2.1.1 to execute arbitrary shell commands as the CouchDB user, including downloading and executing scripts from the public internet. Affected products include: Apache Couchdb. Version information: before 1.7.0.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionCVE.org
CouchDB administrative users can configure the database server via HTTP(S). Some of the configuration options include paths for operating system-level binaries that are subsequently launched by CouchDB. This allows an admin user in Apache CouchDB before 1.7.0 and 2.x before 2.1.1 to execute arbitrary shell commands as the CouchDB user, including downloading and executing scripts from the public internet.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Exploit-DB
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
OS command injection occurs when an application passes unsanitized user input directly into system shell commands.
Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org
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Apache CouchDB 1.5.0 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU and memory consumption) via t
In Apache CouchDB prior to 3.2.2, an attacker can access an improperly secured default installation without authenticati
Apache CouchDB administrative users can configure the database server via HTTP(S). Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2), this
CouchDB version 3.0.0 shipped with a new configuration setting that governs access control to the entire database server
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In Apache CouchDB, a malicious user with permission to create documents in a database is able to attach a HTML attachmen
CouchDB administrative users before 2.2.0 can configure the database server via HTTP(S). Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2),
Apache CouchDB before 1.0.4, 1.1.x before 1.1.2, and 1.2.x before 1.2.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary cod
Design document functions which receive a user http request object may expose authorization or session cookie headers of
Design documents with matching document IDs, from databases on the same cluster, may share a mutable Javascript environm
GitHub PoC