CVE-2018-1279
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 · uneditedPivotal RabbitMQ for PCF, all versions, uses a deterministically generated cookie that is shared between all machines when configured in a multi-tenant cluster. A remote attacker who can gain information about the network topology can guess this cookie and, if they have access to the right ports on any server in the MQ cluster can use this cookie to gain full control over the entire cluster.
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 confidencePivotal RabbitMQ for PCF uses a deterministically generated Erlang cookie shared across all nodes in multi-tenant clusters. An attacker with knowledge of network topology can guess this cookie and, with access to RabbitMQ management ports on any cluster server, can authenticate as an Erlang internal user and gain full administrative control over the entire cluster.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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.
-
Locate the Erlang cookie fileFind the .erlang.cookie file in the RabbitMQ data directory (typically /var/lib/rabbitmq/.erlang.cookie or the PCF-specific data directory)Affected if The cookie value matches the known deterministic/default pattern used in Pivotal RabbitMQ for PCF installations
-
Inspect cookie entropyExamine the cookie string to determine if it follows a predictable or repeating pattern rather than a cryptographically random valueAffected if The cookie appears to be generated using a predictable algorithm rather than being unique and random
-
Verify port exposureCheck if RabbitMQ ports (25672 for clustering, 5672 for AMQP, 15672 for management UI) are accessible from networks outside the trusted clusterAffected if Management and clustering ports are reachable from untrusted or external networks
-
Review for unknown administrative usersQuery RabbitMQ for all users with administrative permissions, particularly Erlang internal users, and compare against expected authorized accountsAffected if Unexpected users exist with full administrative privileges or unrecognized Erlang internal users are present
-
Examine authentication logsReview RabbitMQ and Erlang distribution logs for successful authentications from unexpected IP addresses or repeated failed authentication attemptsAffected if Logs show administrative logins from unknown sources or suspicious authentication patterns
The environment is affected if the Erlang cookie uses the default deterministic value and RabbitMQ management ports are accessible from untrusted networks, allowing potential attackers to authenticate as an internal user and gain full cluster control.
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 dataGenerate and deploy a cryptographically random cookie value unique to the installation, implement network segmentation to restrict access to RabbitMQ ports (25672, 5672, 15672), and audit for any signs of unauthorized cluster access.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,304.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-1279 — 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-2018-1279 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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