Apache Software Foundation CouchDB

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.

Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Packaging

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.

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.

Apache CouchDB administrative users 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 that CouchDB runs under, by bypassing the blacklist of configuration settings that are not allowed to be modified via the HTTP API. This privilege escalation effectively allows an existing CouchDB admin user to gain arbitrary remote code execution, bypassing already disclosed CVE-2017-12636. Mitigation: All users should upgrade to CouchDB releases 1.7.2 or 2.1.2.

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.

The Windows installer that the Apache CouchDB team provides was vulnerable to local privilege escalation. All files in the install inherit the file permissions of the parent directory and therefore a non-privileged user can substitute any executable for the nssm.exe service launcher, or CouchDB batch or binary files. A subsequent service or server restart will then run that binary with administrator privilege. This issue affected CouchDB 2.0.0 (Windows platform only) and was addressed in CouchDB 2.0.0.1.

CouchDB in Vectra Networks Cognito Brain and Sensor before 4.3 contains a local code execution vulnerability.

Privilege escalation vulnerability when using HTML attachments

Prior to CouchDB version 2.3.0, CouchDB allowed for runtime-configuration of key components of the database. In some cases, this lead to vulnerabilities where CouchDB admin users could access the underlying operating system as the CouchDB user. Together with other vulnerabilities, it allowed full system entry for unauthenticated users. Rather than waiting for new vulnerabilities to be discovered, and fixing them as they come up, the CouchDB development team decided to make changes to avoid this entire class of vulnerabilities.

Untrusted search path vulnerability in a certain Debian GNU/Linux patch for the couchdb script in CouchDB 0.8.0 allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted shared library in the current working directory.

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 code via a JSONP callback, related to Adobe Flash.

Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Apache CouchDB 0.8.0 through 0.11.0 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for direct requests to an installation URL.

Apache CouchDB, IBM Cloudant: Privilege Escalation Using _design Documents

Apache CouchDB, IBM Cloudant: Information sharing via couchjs processes

Apache CouchDB 1.5.0 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU and memory consumption) via the count parameter to /_uuids.

Directory traversal vulnerability in the partition2 function in mochiweb_util.erl in MochiWeb before 2.4.0, as used in 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 read arbitrary files via a ..\ (dot dot backslash) in the default URI.

Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in the web administration interface (aka Futon) in Apache CouchDB 0.8.0 through 1.0.1 allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors.

Apache CouchDB 0.8.0 through 0.10.1 allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information by measuring the completion time of operations that verify (1) hashes or (2) passwords.

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Futon UI in 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 inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified parameters to the browser-based test suite.