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.
CVE-2017-12635
“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.
Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-13. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.
Also known asEUVD-2017-4174 (ENISA EUVD) · GHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f (GitHub Security Advisories)Source: ENISA EUVD
- High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 99.8%
- Public exploit code is available (Metasploit, Exploit-DB, marked verified by Exploit-DB, other public proof-of-concept code)
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 9.8
- EG Score
- 9.8CRITICALmedium confidence
- EG Risk
- 84EG Risk 84/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity98% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 9.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation99.8% × 40%FIRST EPSS: the 30-day exploitation probability when EchelonGraph scored this CVE.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's BOD 26-04 default: no one has published Automatable for this CVE, and CISA treats it as “no” for a CVE not in KEV.SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high. - EPSS PROB
- 99.8%
- EPSS %ILE
- 99th
- KEV
- Not listed
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (9.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 9.8 CRITICALCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 99.8% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-11-01). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track* at medium mission impactTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
The score's inputs: In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). Where an input reads “CISA's BOD 26-04 default”, no one has published it for this CVE, and CISA's implementation guidance says: “If “Automatable” and “Technical Impact” information items about a CVE ID are not available and the CVE ID is not in the KEV Catalog, CISA will treat its values as “no” and “total,” respectively, until CISA or a third party provides metadata about the CVE ID. CISA will always provide the Vulnrichment data for a CVE ID listed in the KEV Catalog.” Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
Published
November 14, 2017
Last Modified
June 17, 2026
Advisory Details (7)
Auto-updated Oct 6, 2026[SECURITY] [DLA 1252-1] couchdb security update
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/01/msg00026.htmlPony Mail
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/6c405bf3f8358e6314076be9f48c89a2e0ddf00539906291ebdf0c67%40%3Cdev.couchdb.apache.org%3ECouchDB: Multiple vulnerabilities (GLSA 201711-16) — Gentoo security
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201711-16Apache CouchDB - Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit) - Linux remote Exploit
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45019/Apache CouchDB 1.7.0 / 2.x < 2.1.1 - Remote Privilege Escalation - Linux webapps Exploit
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44498/Affected Packages
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Debian:7(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| couchdb | 1.2.0-5 |
| — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 15× in last 7d / 44× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 7 repeat rows among the latest 91 are merged into the row they repeat.
- 2026-11-02 14:25 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-11-02 08:37 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-11-02 08:36 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-11-01 07:44 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-11-01 07:44 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-31 06:51 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-31 06:51 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-30 05:59 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-30 05:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-29 05:07 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-29 05:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-28 04:14 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-28 04:14 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-27 03:08 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-27 03:08 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-25 22:12 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-25 19:39 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-24 21:13 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-24 21:12 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-23 20:20 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-23 20:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-22 19:25 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-22 19:25 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-21 18:32 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-21 18:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
Show 59 moreShow fewer
- 2026-10-20 17:39 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-20 17:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-19 16:46 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-19 16:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-18 15:53 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-18 10:40 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 14:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 14:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-16 14:04 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-16 14:04 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-15 12:38 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-15 12:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-14 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-10-14 07:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-14 07:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-13 03:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-10-12 20:35 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 00:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-04 02:14 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-30 09:24 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-24 13:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-17 19:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-09-14 16:14 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-30 19:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-28 21:36 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.7% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-26 16:13 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-24 14:10 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-16 02:10 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-08-10 06:09 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-26 14:51 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-25 06:41 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-23 01:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:05 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-07-08 01:05 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.8% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-19 12:55 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 99.9% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-10 22:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
- 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-30 20:53 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
- 2026-05-20 08:23 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-05-20 04:14 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-05-20 00:05 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-05-19 19:56 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-05-19 15:47 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-05-19 11:37 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-05-19 07:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-05-19 03:10 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-f3p2-qqmm-jg8f · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
- 2026-05-18 23:01 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
Publicly available exploits
(6 references)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (2 Metasploit modules, 2 Exploit-DB entries, 1 GitHub PoC), as is 1 Nuclei detection template. A detection template checks whether a system is affected; it is not necessarily exploit code. Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.
- Exploit-DBEDB-45019✓ verifiedPublished Jul 13, 2018
Apache CouchDB - Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit)
Open source ↗ - Metasploitexploit/linux/http/apache_couchdb_cmd_exec✓ verifiedPublished Jul 12, 2018
Apache CouchDB Arbitrary Command Execution
Open source ↗ - Metasploitauxiliary/scanner/couchdb/couchdb_enum✓ verifiedPublished May 14, 2013
CouchDB Enum Utility
Open source ↗ - Nucleihttp/cves/2017/CVE-2017-12635.yamlPublished Feb 15, 2021
Apache CouchDB 1.7.0 / 2.x < 2.1.1 - Remote Privilege Escalation
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCassalielmehdi/CVE-2017-12635Published Nov 7, 2019
Case study and POC of CVE-2017-12635: Apache CouchDB 1.7.0 / 2.x < 2.1.1 - Remote Privilege Escalation
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-44498Published Apr 23, 2018
Apache CouchDB 1.7.0 / 2.x < 2.1.1 - Remote Privilege Escalation
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same product + same CWE)
Frequently asked(5)
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Dependency Blast Radius
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