CVE-2017-12635

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-13. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Trending — 3 sources updated this weekWeaponized
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 100%
  • Public exploit code is available (Metasploit, Exploit-DB (verified), epss top5pct, epss high, public exploit)
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 100%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: Metasploit · Exploit-DB (verified) · epss top5pct · epss high · public exploitExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

Due to differences in the Erlang-based JSON parser and JavaScript-based JSON parser, it is possible in Apache CouchDB before 1.7.0 and 2.x before 2.1.1 to submit _users documents with duplicate keys for 'roles' used for access control within the database, including the special case '_admin' role, that denotes administrative users. In combination with CVE-2017-12636 (Remote Code Execution), this can be used to give non-admin users access to arbitrary shell commands on the server as the database system user. The JSON parser differences result in behaviour that if two 'roles' keys are available in the JSON, the second one will be used for authorising the document write, but the first 'roles' key is used for subsequent authorization for the newly created user. By design, users can not assign themselves roles. The vulnerability allows non-admin users to give themselves admin privileges.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
89(Track*)
EG Risk 89/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation100% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS PROB
100%
EPSS %ILE
100%
KEV
Not listed

Published

November 14, 2017

Last Modified

June 17, 2026

Advisory Details (7)

Auto-updated Jul 26, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available.
generic Patch Available

[SECURITY] [DLA 1252-1] couchdb security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/01/msg00026.html
generic
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/6c405bf3f8358e6314076be9f48c89a2e0ddf00539906291ebdf0c67%40%3Cdev.couchdb.apache.org%3E
generic
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101868
generic🟡 PoC Available

Apache CouchDB - Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit) - Linux remote Exploit

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45019/
generic🟡 PoC Available

Apache CouchDB 1.7.0 / 2.x < 2.1.1 - Remote Privilege Escalation - Linux webapps Exploit

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44498/
generic
https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbmu03935en_us
generic

CouchDB: Multiple vulnerabilities (GLSA 201711-16) — Gentoo security

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201711-16

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 4× in last 7d / 6× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-26 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-25 06:41 UTCOSV refresh
  3. 2026-07-23 01:26 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-07-22 22:05 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-08 01:05 UTCOSV refresh
  7. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-19 12:55 UTCOSV refresh
  9. 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-10 22:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-05-30 20:53 UTCOSV refresh
  20. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-05-20 08:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 10 more
  1. 2026-05-20 04:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-05-20 00:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-05-19 19:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-05-19 15:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-05-19 11:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-05-19 07:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-05-19 03:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-05-18 23:01 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(6 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (2 Metasploit modules) (1 GitHub PoC) (2 Exploit-DB entries). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCassalielmehdi/CVE-2017-12635
    First seen Nov 7, 2019

    Case study and POC of CVE-2017-12635: Apache CouchDB 1.7.0 / 2.x < 2.1.1 - Remote Privilege Escalation

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-45019✓ verified
    First seen Jul 13, 2018

    Apache CouchDB - Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit)

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-44498
    First seen Apr 23, 2018

    Apache CouchDB 1.7.0 / 2.x < 2.1.1 - Remote Privilege Escalation

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitauxiliary/scanner/couchdb/couchdb_enum✓ verified
    First seen Jan 1, 2017

    CouchDB Enum Utility

    Open source ↗
  • Nucleihttp/cves/2017/CVE-2017-12635.yaml
    First seen Jan 1, 2017

    Apache CouchDB 1.7.0 / 2.x < 2.1.1 - Remote Privilege Escalation

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/linux/http/apache_couchdb_cmd_exec✓ verified
    First seen Apr 6, 2016

    Apache CouchDB Arbitrary Command Execution

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2017-12635?
CVE-2017-12635 is a critical vulnerability published on November 14, 2017. Due to differences in the Erlang-based JSON parser and JavaScript-based JSON parser, it is possible in Apache CouchDB before 1.7.0 and 2.x before 2.1.1 to submit users documents with duplicate keys for 'roles' used for access control within the database, including the special case 'admin' role,…
When was CVE-2017-12635 disclosed?
CVE-2017-12635 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on November 14, 2017, with the most recent update on June 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2017-12635 actively exploited?
CVE-2017-12635 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 100% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 0.0% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-12635?
CVE-2017-12635 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2017-12635?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2017-12635, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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