CVE-2023-26268 | Apache CouchDB, IBM Cloudant: Information sharing via couchjs processes

Design documents with matching document IDs, from databases on the same cluster, may share a mutable Javascript environment when using these design document functions: * validate_doc_update * list * filter * filter views (using view functions as filters) * rewrite * update This doesn't affect map/reduce or search (Dreyfus) index functions. Users are recommended to upgrade to a version that is no longer affected by this issue (Apache CouchDB 3.3.2 or 3.2.3). Workaround: Avoid using design documents from untrusted sources which may attempt to cache or store data in the Javascript environment.

Published: 2023-05-02 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-26268 is rated Moderate Risk (43.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.43%). EPSS rose +1.37% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-26268

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 2026-06-15 0.06% 1.43% +1.37%
2 2026-05-20 0.03% 0.06% +0.02%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.03% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-26268

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N 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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.3 2.7 [email protected]
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N 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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-26268

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-26268

vendor priority summary link
suse medium CVE-2023-26268 severity moderate: SUSE including 1 source package names (couchdb), 2 product×package rows across 2 product lines (SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8, SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9): Will Not Fix 2. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-26268/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-26268 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (couchdb), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 10, needs-triage 2, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-26268

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-26268

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache couchdb < 3.2.3 cpe:2.3:a:apache:couchdb:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache couchdb >= 3.3.0, < 3.3.2 cpe:2.3:a:apache:couchdb:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ibm cloudant <= 8349 cpe:2.3:a:ibm:cloudant:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-26268

cvelogic Threat Intelligence