RangerApplication · Apache
CVE-2016-8746
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 · uneditedApache Ranger before 0.6.3 policy engine incorrectly matches paths in certain conditions when policy does not contain wildcards and has recursion flag set to true.
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 · moderate confidenceApache Ranger before 0.6.3 contains a flaw in its policy engine where path matching is incorrectly handled when a policy has the recursion flag enabled but does not use wildcards. This logic error can cause the policy to match paths it should not, potentially allowing unauthorized access to resources that should be restricted.
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
RangerApplication
<= 0.6.2CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Apache Ranger versionCheck the installed Apache Ranger version by reviewing the Ranger version file, typically found in the Ranger admin UI under 'Settings > About' or by checking the ranger-admin package version (e.g., rpm -qi ranger-admin or dpkg -l ranger-admin)Affected if The installed version is 0.6.2 or earlier (any version <= 0.6.2)
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Locate policies with recursion enabledQuery the Ranger policy database (or use the Ranger REST API: GET /service/public/v2/api/policy) and filter for policies where 'isRecursive' or 'recursiveFlag' is set to trueAffected if Policies exist with recursion enabled and the policy does not contain wildcard characters (* or ?) in the path definition
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Examine policy path definitionsReview each recursive policy's 'resourcePath' or 'path' field to determine if wildcards are present; inspect the policy JSON configuration directly via the Ranger admin UI or APIAffected if A policy has isRecursive=true AND the path value does NOT contain wildcard characters (e.g., '/data/folder' instead of '/data/folder/*')
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Verify path matching behaviorCreate a test policy with recursion enabled on a specific non-wildcard path (e.g., '/data/secure'), then attempt access to a subdirectory (e.g., '/data/secure/subfolder') that should NOT be covered by the policy according to strict interpretationAffected if Access to subdirectories is granted when it should be denied, indicating the incorrect path matching logic is present
A defender is affected if running Apache Ranger version 0.6.2 or earlier AND has policies with recursion enabled that use non-wildcard path definitions, as these policies may grant unintended access to subdirectories.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade Apache Ranger to version 0.6.3 or later to obtain the patch. Additionally, audit existing policies with recursion=true and no wildcards to verify access controls are functioning as intended.
Fix this in Ranger
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,024.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-8746 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-8746 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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