CVE-2017-5802
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 · uneditedA Remote Gain Privileged Access vulnerability in HPE Vertica Analytics Platform version v4.1 and later was found.
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 confidenceRemote authenticated attacker can gain privileged (administrator) access to HPE Vertica Analytics Platform v4.1 and later through the vulnerability, likely via a flaw in authentication or session management allowing privilege escalation.
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< 6.1.3-20>= 7.0, < 7.0.2-13>= 7.1, < 7.1.2-21>= 7.2, < 7.2.3-18>= 8.0, < 8.0.1-3>= 8.1, < 8.1.0-1CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 Vertica installation and versionRun 'SELECT version();' or 'SELECT GET_COMPILE_SETTINGS();' against the database to retrieve the exact Vertica version numberAffected if The returned version falls within any of these ranges: < 6.1.3-20; >= 7.0 and < 7.0.2-13; >= 7.1 and < 7.1.2-21; >= 7.2 and < 7.2.3-18; >= 8.0 and < 8.0.1-3; >= 8.1 and < 8.1.0-1
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Check for unauthorized superuser accountsQuery the USERS system table: 'SELECT user_name, is_superuser, last_login FROM USERS;' Review the list for any unexpected superuser accounts created after initial deploymentAffected if There are superuser accounts that were not intentionally created by your administrators, indicating possible privilege escalation
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Examine audit logs for privilege escalation eventsReview Vertica audit logs in /opt/vertica/log/ for entries containing 'GRANT ROLE', 'ALTER USER', or role changes. Query SESSIONS system table for concurrent sessions from same user with different privilege levelsAffected if Audit logs show unexpected role grants, privilege changes, or sessions with elevated privileges occurring at unexpected times or from unexpected sources
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Inspect active sessions for anomaliesExecute 'SELECT * FROM SESSIONS;' to view current and recent database sessions. Check for multiple sessions from same user with conflicting authentication tokens or overlapping timestamps with different client versionsAffected if Sessions show unusual patterns such as same user authenticated simultaneously from different IPs, or privilege level mismatches between authentication and session state
You are affected if your Vertica version is within any of the listed vulnerable ranges AND an attacker with any valid database credentials could have escalated to superuser privileges.
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.
dbcve · scoped6.1.3-207.0.2-137.1.2-21
Upgrade HPE Vertica to the vendor-provided patched version; apply network segmentation and restrict management interfaces to trusted networks until patch can be applied.
Upgrade to the minimum fixed version for your branch: 6.1.3-20, 7.0.2-13, 7.1.2-21, or 7.2.3-18 (or later versions if available)
- 1. Identify the currently installed Vertica version using the vsql -? command or by checking the /opt/vertica/bin/vertica version
- 2. Determine which version branch your current installation belongs to (6.1.x, 7.0.x, 7.1.x, or 7.2.x)
- 3. Based on your current version branch, plan an upgrade to the minimum fixed version: For 6.1.x branches upgrade to 6.1.3-20 or later; For 7.0.x branches upgrade to 7.0.2-13 or later; For 7.1.x branches upgrade to 7.1.2-21 or later; For 7.2.x branches upgrade to 7.2.3-18 or later
- 4. Before upgrading, perform a complete backup of the database using vbr.py --task backup
- 5. Download the appropriate HP Vertica Analytics Platform package from support.hpe.com or my.vertica.com
- 6. Run the installer as root: ./install_vertica --force --hosts <cluster_hosts>
- 7. After upgrade, verify the new version matches the expected fixed version using vsql -?
- 8. Test critical functionality to ensure the upgrade did not break existing applications
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-5802 — 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-2017-5802 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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