CVE-2022-24706 – CVE-2022-24706 is a critical authentication byp... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2022-24706?

CVE-2022-24706 has a CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). CVE-2022-24706 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Apache CouchDB that allows unauthenticated attackers to gain admin privileges on improperly secured default installations. This affects all CouchDB installations prior to version 3.2.2 that haven't been properly hardened according to security recommendations.

📋 TL;DR

CVE-2022-24706 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Apache CouchDB that allows unauthenticated attackers to gain admin privileges on improperly secured default installations. This affects all CouchDB installations prior to version 3.2.2 that haven't been properly hardened according to security recommendations.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Apache CouchDB

Versions: All versions prior to 3.2.2

Operating Systems: All operating systems running CouchDB

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Only affects installations that haven't been properly secured according to CouchDB documentation recommendations.

📦 What is this software?

Couchdb by Apache

View all CVEs affecting Couchdb →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete system compromise with remote code execution, data theft, and potential lateral movement to other systems.

🟠

Likely Case

Unauthenticated attackers gaining admin access to CouchDB databases, allowing data manipulation, deletion, or exfiltration.

🟢

If Mitigated

Minimal impact if proper network segmentation, firewalls, and authentication are configured as recommended.

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH - Default installations exposed to the internet are trivially exploitable without authentication.

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM - Internal attackers or compromised systems could exploit this, but requires network access to CouchDB.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ⚠️ Yes

Weaponized: CONFIRMED

Unauthenticated Exploit: ⚠️ Yes

Complexity: LOW

Multiple public exploit scripts and detailed technical analysis available. Exploitation requires no authentication.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 3.2.2 and later

Vendor Advisory: https://couchdb.apache.org/#cve-2022-24706

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Backup CouchDB data and configuration. 2. Stop CouchDB service. 3. Upgrade to CouchDB 3.2.2 or later using your package manager or manual installation. 4. Start CouchDB service. 5. Verify upgrade and test functionality.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Network Access Restriction

linux

Configure firewall rules to restrict access to CouchDB ports (default 5984, 5986) to only trusted IP addresses.

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 5984 -s TRUSTED_IP -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 5984 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 5986 -s TRUSTED_IP -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 5986 -j DROP

Enable Authentication

all

Configure CouchDB to require authentication for all operations, following official security hardening guidelines.

curl -X PUT http://localhost:5984/_node/_local/_config/admins/admin -d '"secure_password"'
curl -X PUT http://localhost:5984/_node/_local/_config/chttpd/require_valid_user -d '"true"'

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Place CouchDB behind a reverse proxy with authentication (like nginx with HTTP basic auth)
Implement network segmentation to isolate CouchDB from untrusted networks

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check CouchDB version and attempt unauthenticated admin access: curl -X GET http://couchdb-host:5984/_membership

Check Version:

curl -s http://couchdb-host:5984/ | grep version

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify version is 3.2.2 or later and test that unauthenticated admin access is denied.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Unauthenticated requests to admin endpoints
Failed authentication attempts followed by successful admin operations
Unusual database creation or modification patterns

Network Indicators:

Unusual traffic to CouchDB ports from unexpected sources
HTTP requests to /_membership, /_config, or /_nodes without authentication

SIEM Query:

source="couchdb.log" AND (uri_path="/_membership" OR uri_path="/_config" OR uri_path="/_nodes") AND NOT (user!="")

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2022-24706

CVSS v3 Score: 9.8 (CRITICAL)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE: CWE-1188

Published: April 26, 2022

Last Updated: October 28, 2025

🔗 References

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/167032/Apache-CouchDB-3.2.1-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit,Third Party Advisory,VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/169702/Apache-CouchDB-Erlang-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit,Third Party Advisory,VDB Entry
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/04/26/1 Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/05/09/1 Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/05/09/2 Mailing List,Patch,Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/05/09/3 Mailing List,Patch,Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/05/09/4 Mailing List,Patch,Third Party Advisory
https://docs.couchdb.org/en/3.2.2/setup/cluster.html Broken Link,Product
https://lists.apache.org/thread/w24wo0h8nlctfps65txvk0oc5hdcnv00 Mailing List,Vendor Advisory
https://medium.com/%40_sadshade/couchdb-erlang-and-cookies-rce-on-default-settings-b1e9173a4bcd Exploit,Third Party Advisory
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/167032/Apache-CouchDB-3.2.1-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit,Third Party Advisory,VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/169702/Apache-CouchDB-Erlang-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit,Third Party Advisory,VDB Entry
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/04/26/1 Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/05/09/1 Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/05/09/2 Mailing List,Patch,Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/05/09/3 Mailing List,Patch,Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/05/09/4 Mailing List,Patch,Third Party Advisory
https://docs.couchdb.org/en/3.2.2/setup/cluster.html Broken Link,Product
https://lists.apache.org/thread/w24wo0h8nlctfps65txvk0oc5hdcnv00 Mailing List,Vendor Advisory
https://medium.com/%40_sadshade/couchdb-erlang-and-cookies-rce-on-default-settings-b1e9173a4bcd Exploit,Third Party Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2022-24706 US Government Resource

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