CVE-2016-8742
The Windows installer that the Apache CouchDB team provides was vulnerable to local privilege escalation.
Does this matter?
A public exploit is published in Exploit-DB (verified) and the impact is high, while EPSS rates exploitation at 2.0%. Anyone can run this; patch or mitigate before the next change window and check exposed instances for signs of use.
Description
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.
- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 1.96% probability · 80th percentile
- Public exploits
- 1 in Exploit-DB · verified · first 5 December 2016
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-264
- Affected
- apache/couchdb
- Source
- security@apache.org
EPSS 2.0% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
Public exploits (1)
Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.
References
- http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/couchdb-dev/201612.mbox/%3C825F65E1-0E5F-4E1F-8053-CF2C6200C526%40apache.org%3EVendor Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94766Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40865/Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/couchdb-dev/201612.mbox/%3C825F65E1-0E5F-4E1F-8053-CF2C6200C526%40apache.org%3EVendor Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94766Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40865/Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.