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Mallory
HighPublic exploit

Privilege Escalation and RCE via HTTP API in Apache CouchDB

IdentifiersCVE-2018-8007CWE-284

CVE-2018-8007 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in Apache CouchDB. Due to insufficient validation of administrator-supplied configuration settings via the HTTP API, an authenticated CouchDB administrator can bypass the intended blacklist of restricted configuration parameters. This allows the attacker to escalate privileges to the operating system user under which CouchDB runs, resulting in arbitrary remote code execution. This vulnerability bypasses protections introduced in CVE-2017-12636.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

An authenticated CouchDB administrator can achieve arbitrary remote code execution with the privileges of the CouchDB OS user, potentially leading to full system compromise. This is a post-authentication vulnerability, but it completely undermines the security boundary between the database and the underlying operating system.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Restrict access to the CouchDB HTTP API to trusted administrators only, and ensure that no untrusted users have administrative privileges. Network-level controls (e.g., firewalls, VPNs) can reduce exposure until the system is patched.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade CouchDB to version 1.7.2 or 2.1.2, which properly enforces the blacklist of configuration settings and prevents privilege escalation via the HTTP API.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
Apache Software FoundationCouchdbapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

What this page doesn’t show

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware1

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.