CVE-2024-28851 | Elevation of privilege in Snowflake Hive MetaStore Connector Helper script

The Snowflake Hive metastore connector provides an easy way to query Hive-managed data via Snowflake. Snowflake Hive MetaStore Connector has addressed a potential elevation of privilege vulnerability in a `helper script` for the Hive MetaStore Connector. A malicious insider without admin privileges could, in theory, use the script to download content from a Microsoft domain to the local system and replace the valid content with malicious code. If the attacker then also had local access to the same system where the maliciously modified script is run, they could attempt to manipulate users into executing the attacker-controlled helper script, potentially gaining elevated privileges to the local system. The vulnerability in the script was patched on February 09, 2024, without a version bump to the Connector. User who use the helper script are strongly advised to use the latest version as soon as possible. Users unable to upgrade should avoid using the helper script.

Published: 2024-03-15 Last update: 2025-04-09 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2024-28851 is rated Low Risk (19.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2024-28851

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 2025-04-12 0.05% 0.04% -0.01%
2 2025-04-11 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2025-04-02 0.04%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-28851

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.0 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
0.3 3.6 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-28851

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-28851

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
snowflake snowflake_hive_metastore_connector < 2024-02-09 cpe:2.3:a:snowflake:snowflake_hive_metastore_connector:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-28851

cvelogic Threat Intelligence