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MesosApplication · Apache

CVE-2018-11793

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-03-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.4.3 / 1.5.2 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
When parsing a JSON payload with deeply nested JSON structures, the parser in Apache Mesos versions pre-1.4.x, 1.4.0 to 1.4.2, 1.5.0 to 1.5.1, 1.6.0 to 1.6.1, and 1.7.0 might overflow the stack due to unbounded recursion. A malicious actor can therefore cause a denial of service of Mesos masters rendering the Mesos-controlled cluster inoperable.

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

The JSON parser in Apache Mesos lacks proper recursion depth limits when parsing deeply nested JSON structures, causing stack overflow. A malicious actor can trigger this by sending a crafted JSON payload with excessive nesting depth, leading to denial of service of Mesos masters.

MitigationUpgrade Apache Mesos to version 1.4.3, 1.5.2, 1.6.2, 1.7.2, or later which contain the fix for bounded recursion in JSON parsing.

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
MesosApplication
Affected:>= 1.4.0, < 1.4.3>= 1.5.0, < 1.5.2>= 1.6.0, < 1.6.2>= 1.7.0, < 1.7.1= 1.4.0= 1.8.0

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
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Mesos version
    Run 'mesos-master --version' or 'mesos-agent --version' to obtain the Mesos version number
    Affected if Version matches any of: >= 1.4.0 to < 1.4.3, >= 1.5.0 to < 1.5.2, >= 1.6.0 to < 1.6.2, >= 1.7.0 to < 1.7.1, or exactly 1.8.0
  2. Confirm Mesos master process is running
    Check for running 'mesos-master' process via 'ps aux | grep mesos-master' or systemd service status
    Affected if Mesos master process is active and serving API requests
  3. Verify JSON API endpoints are exposed
    Review network configuration and access logs for requests to Mesos REST API endpoints (typically port 5050) that accept JSON input
    Affected if Mesos master API ports are accessible to untrusted network traffic

You are affected if your Mesos version falls within the vulnerable ranges AND the master API accepting JSON requests is network-accessible to potential attackers.

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 1.4.3 / 1.5.2 / 1.6.2 or later
Fixed in 1.4.31.5.21.6.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Apache Mesos to version 1.4.3, 1.5.2, 1.6.2, 1.7.2, or later which contain the fix for bounded recursion in JSON parsing.

Fix this in Mesos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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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-2018-11793 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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