Couchdb
CVE-2020-1955
CRITICAL
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Authentication required for critical functions
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Initial Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could access critical functionality without authentication by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
CouchDB version 3.0.0 shipped with a new configuration setting that governs access control to the entire database server called require_valid_user_except_for_up. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Require authentication for all sensitive operations, implement defense in depth.
Affects your stack
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Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Missing Authentication for Critical Function (CWE-306), which allows attackers to access critical functionality without authentication. CouchDB version 3.0.0 shipped with a new configuration setting that governs access control to the entire database server called require_valid_user_except_for_up. It was meant as an extension to the long standing setting require_valid_user, which in turn requires that any and all requests to CouchDB will have to be made with valid credentials, effectively forbidding any anonymous requests. The new require_valid_user_except_for_up is an off-by-default setting that was meant to allow requiring valid credentials for all endpoints except for the /_up endpoint. However, the implementation of this made an error that lead to not enforcing credentials on any endpoint, when enabled. CouchDB versions 3.0.1[1] and 3.1.0[2] fix this issue. Affected products include: Apache Couchdb. Version information: version 3.0.0.
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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:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
CouchDB version 3.0.0 shipped with a new configuration setting that governs access control to the entire database server called require_valid_user_except_for_up. It was meant as an extension to the long standing setting require_valid_user, which in turn requires that any and all requests to CouchDB will have to be made with valid credentials, effectively forbidding any anonymous requests. The new require_valid_user_except_for_up is an off-by-default setting that was meant to allow requiring valid credentials for all endpoints except for the /_up endpoint. However, the implementation of this made an error that lead to not enforcing credentials on any endpoint, when enabled. CouchDB versions 3.0.1[1] and 3.1.0[2] fix this issue.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
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
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
Due to differences in the Erlang-based JSON parser and JavaScript-based JSON parser, it is possible in Apache CouchDB be
CouchDB administrative users can configure the database server via HTTP(S). Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2), this vulnera
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
Directory traversal vulnerability in the partition2 function in mochiweb_util.erl in MochiWeb before 2.4.0, as used in A
CouchDB in Vectra Networks Cognito Brain and Sensor before 4.3 contains a local code execution vulnerability. Rated high
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
Exploit-DB