CVE-2017-12636

Exp

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.

Published: 2017-11-14 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-12636 is rated High Exploit Risk (78.8/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 93.75%, 100th percentile). 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2017-12636

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
45019 exploit_db edb 2018-07-13 Exploit-DB ↗
44913 exploit_db edb 2018-06-20 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2017-12636

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-18 93.69% 93.75% +0.06%
2 2026-01-30 93.59% 93.69% +0.10%
3 2026-01-27 — 93.59% —

Full EPSS history (45 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-12636

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.2 5.9 [email protected]
9.0 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 8.0 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-12636

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-12636

vendor priority summary link
gentoo normal CVE-2017-12636: 1 GLSA(s) (201711-16), 1 atom(s) (dev-db/couchdb); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2017-12636
suse critical CVE-2017-12636 severity critical: SUSE including 1 source package names (couchdb-1.7.2-2.8.2), 2 product×package rows across 2 product lines (SUSE Enterprise Storage 4, SUSE OpenStack Cloud 7): Fixed 2. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-12636/
ubuntu medium CVE-2017-12636 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (couchdb), 19 status rows across 19 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial, zesty): DNE 15, ignored 2, needed 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-12636

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-12636

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache couchdb < 1.7.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:couchdb:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache couchdb 2.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:couchdb:2.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache couchdb 2.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:couchdb:2.0.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache couchdb 2.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:couchdb:2.0.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache couchdb 2.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:couchdb:2.0.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache couchdb 2.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:couchdb:2.0.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-12636

cvelogic Threat Intelligence