VerticaApplication · Opentext

CVE-2015-6867

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-11-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The vertica-udx-zygote process in HP Vertica 7.1.1 UDx does not require authentication, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted packet, aka ZDI-CAN-2914.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

HP Vertica 7.1.1 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in the vertica-udx-zygote process (User-Defined Extensions). The process does not require authentication, allowing remote unauthenticated attackers to send specially crafted packets and execute arbitrary commands on the affected system with the privileges of the vertica user.

MitigationUpgrade HP Vertica to version 7.2 or later which contains the patch for this vulnerability. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to the vertica-udx-zygote port using firewall rules or network segmentation to limit exposure to trusted hosts only.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
VerticaApplication
Affected:= 7.1.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed Vertica version
    Run 'SELECT VERSION();' in vsql or check the /opt/vertica/bin/vertica version output
    Affected if The version is exactly 7.1.1
  2. Verify if the vertica-udx-zygote process is running
    Check running processes for vertica-udx-zygote using 'ps aux | grep vertica-udx-zygote' or check process list via system monitoring tools
    Affected if The process is active and accepting connections
  3. Determine if the vertica-udx-zygote service is network accessible
    Review firewall rules and network configuration to see if the vertica-udx-zygote port is exposed to untrusted networks. Check listening ports with 'netstat -anp | grep vertica-udx-zygote' or similar tool.
    Affected if The service is bound to a network interface accessible from untrusted hosts
  4. Confirm User-Defined Extensions (UDX) feature is enabled
    Check if UDx functions are deployed or if the UDX framework is active by querying the user_functions system table or reviewing UDF deployment configuration
    Affected if UDX is enabled and the vertica-udx-zygote process handles these requests without authentication

A system is affected if it runs Vertica version 7.1.1 with the vertica-udx-zygote process exposed to the network and UDX feature enabled, allowing unauthenticated remote command execution.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade HP Vertica to version 7.2 or later which contains the patch for this vulnerability. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to the vertica-udx-zygote port using firewall rules or network segmentation to limit exposure to trusted hosts only.

Fix this in Vertica Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-6867 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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