Overview of CVE-2018-8007

CouchDB administrative users can configure the database server via HTTP(S). Due to insufficient validation of administrator-supplied configuration settings via the HTTP API, it is possible for a CouchDB administrator user to escalate their privileges to that of the operating system’s user that CouchDB runs under, by bypassing the blacklist of configuration settings that are not allowed to be modified via the HTTP API.

This privilege escalation effectively allows an existing CouchDB admin user to gain arbitrary remote code execution, bypassing already disclosed CVE-2017-12636

Mitigation

All users should upgrade to CouchDB releases 1.7.2 or 2.1.2.

Upgrades from previous 1.x and 2.x versions in the same series should be
seamless.

Users on earlier versions, or users upgrading from 1.x to 2.x should consult
with upgrade notes.

Credit

This issue was discovered by Francesco Oddo of MDSec Labs. The CouchDB PMC gratefully acknowledges their support in responsibly disclosing this vulnerability.