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HadoopApplication · Apache

CVE-2018-11768

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-10-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.1.1 or later.
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
In Apache Hadoop 3.1.0 to 3.1.1, 3.0.0-alpha1 to 3.0.3, 2.9.0 to 2.9.1, and 2.0.0-alpha to 2.8.4, the user/group information can be corrupted across storing in fsimage and reading back from fsimage.

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

In affected Apache Hadoop versions, user/group metadata becomes corrupted when stored in and read back from fsimage (Hadoop's filesystem checkpoint files). This data integrity flaw in the fsimage serialization/deserialization process can cause incorrect user/group mappings, potentially leading to authorization and access control failures.

MitigationUpgrade Hadoop to a patched version (3.1.2+, 3.0.4+, 2.9.2+, or 2.9.2+). For existing clusters, validate user/group mappings in fsimage files and re-create if corrupted.

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
HadoopApplication
Affected:>= 2.2.0, <= 2.8.4>= 2.9.0, <= 2.9.1>= 3.0.1, <= 3.0.3>= 3.1.0, <= 3.1.1= 2.0.0= 2.0.1= 2.0.2= 2.0.3= 2.0.4= 2.0.5= 2.0.6= 2.1.0

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Hadoop version
    Run 'hdfs version' or check the Hadoop installation directory for the version file (e.g., $HADOOP_HOME/share/hadoop/common/HADOOP_VERSION). Compare the version number against the affected ranges: 2.2.0-2.8.4, 2.9.0-2.9.1, 3.0.1-3.0.3, 3.1.0-3.1.1, or specific 2.0.x releases.
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected version ranges listed in the CVE.
  2. Confirm HDFS NameNode is using fsimage
    Check if the NameNode has generated fsimage files. Look in the Hadoop configuration (hdfs-site.xml) for the property 'dfs.namenode.name.dir' - this directory contains the fsimage_XXXX files. Run 'ls -la <dfs.namenode.name.dir>' to list existing fsimage files.
    Affected if Fsimage files exist and the NameNode is actively using them for checkpointing (this is the default HDFS configuration).
  3. Inspect fsimage for user/group mapping corruption
    Use the Hadoop offline image viewer (oiv) to convert an fsimage file to readable format. Run: 'hdfs oiv -i <path-to-fsimage> -o /tmp/fsimage_output.xml -p XML'. Then examine the XML output for the <topology> or <delegationToken> sections that contain user/group mappings.
    Affected if The fsimage XML output shows unexpected, missing, or malformed user-to-group mappings that do not match the configured users and groups in the cluster.
  4. Verify authorization anomalies
    Compare user/group assignments in the fsimage against the expected OS-level users/groups and any external directory (like LDAP/Active Directory if used). Run 'hdfs dfs -ls /' as various users to test access, and check if access permissions are incorrectly granted or denied due to wrong group mappings.
    Affected if Users cannot access resources they should have access to, or unauthorized users can access protected resources, due to incorrect group membership derived from corrupted fsimage data.

A user is affected if they run any Hadoop version within the listed ranges and their fsimage files contain corrupted user/group mappings that cause authorization failures.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 3.1.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Hadoop to a patched version (3.1.2+, 3.0.4+, 2.9.2+, or 2.9.2+). For existing clusters, validate user/group mappings in fsimage files and re-create if corrupted.

Fix this in Hadoop Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
42.0 hours of engineering $7,360
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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-2018-11768 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data