CVE-2021-38295

Privilege escalation vulnerability when using HTML attachments

HIGH
7.3
CVSS Score
Published: October 14, 2021 at 07:55 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 04:01 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsCouchdbCloudant

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Severity
HIGH7.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 3%

Description

In Apache CouchDB, a malicious user with permission to create documents in a database is able to attach a HTML attachment to a document. If a CouchDB admin opens that attachment in a browser, e.g. via the CouchDB admin interface Fauxton, any JavaScript code embedded in that HTML attachment will be executed within the security context of that admin. A similar route is available with the already deprecated _show and _list functionality. This privilege escalation vulnerability allows an attacker to add or remove data in any database or make configuration changes. This issue affected Apache CouchDB prior to 3.1.2

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 3.1.2Apache CouchDB ≤ v < 3.1.2
Affected range stops below 3.1.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
IBM Cloudant ≤ v < 8201
Affected range stops below 8201, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (1)

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-79

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