SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityModified

CVE-2017-12636

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.

EXPLOIT ×2 ✓HIGH 7.2EPSS 90.6%

Does this matter?

EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 90.6%, higher than 100% of all known CVEs. Patch or mitigate before the next change window.

Description

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.

CVSS 3.0
7.2 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
90.60% probability · 100th percentile
Public exploits
2 in Exploit-DB · verified · first 20 June 2018
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-78
Affected
apache/couchdb
Source
security@apache.org
EPSS trend
0%48%95%21 September 2026: 87.92%22 September 2026: 89.73%27 October 2026: 90.60%21 September 202627 October 2026

EPSS moved from 87.9% on 21 September 2026 to 90.6% on 27 October 2026. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”.

Public exploits (2)

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.

EDB-IDTitleTypePublishedVerified
EDB-45019source ↗Apache CouchDB - Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit)linux · Metasploitremote13 July 2018yes
EDB-44913source ↗Apache CouchDB < 2.1.0 - Remote Code Executionlinux · Cody Zachariaswebapps20 June 2018yes

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.