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HadoopApplication · Apache

CVE-2018-1296

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-02-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.7.5 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 3.0.0-alpha1 to 3.0.0, 2.9.0, 2.8.0 to 2.8.3, and 2.5.0 to 2.7.5, HDFS exposes extended attribute key/value pairs during listXAttrs, verifying only path-level search access to the directory rather than path-level read permission to the referent.

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, the HDFS listXAttrs operation incorrectly verifies only path-level search (traversal) access to a directory rather than validating path-level read permission on the extended attributes themselves. This allows unauthorized users to list and read extended attribute key-value pairs on files/directories they cannot read, enabling information disclosure.

MitigationUpgrade Apache Hadoop to version 2.7.6, 2.8.4, 2.9.1, or 3.0.1 or later. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, restrict HDFS access through strict ACLs and ensure users only have necessary file/directory permissions.

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:>= 2.5.0, <= 2.7.5= 2.8.0= 2.8.1= 2.8.2= 2.8.3= 2.9.0= 3.0.0

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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Hadoop version
    Run 'hadoop version' on the NameNode or check the Hadoop libraries installed in the cluster. For cluster environments, check the version reported by the NameNode web UI or via 'hdfs getconf -confKey hadoop.version'.
    Affected if The installed version matches Apache Hadoop 2.5.0 through 2.7.5, 2.8.0 through 2.8.3, 2.9.0, or 3.0.0.
  2. Confirm HDFS is in use
    Verify that HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System) is the active filesystem by checking 'fs.defaultFS' in core-site.xml or running 'hdfs dfs -ls /' to confirm HDFS connectivity.
    Affected if HDFS is the active filesystem and the Hadoop version falls within the affected range.
  3. Check if extended attributes are enabled
    Inspect the hdfs-site.xml configuration for the 'dfs.namenode.xattrs.enabled' property, or run 'hdfs getconf -confKey dfs.namenode.xattrs.enabled' on the NameNode.
    Affected if Extended attributes (xattrs) are enabled on the HDFS cluster.
  4. Review ACL and permission configurations
    Check for existing ACLs on sensitive directories using 'hdfs dfs -getfacl -R /path/to/directory' and verify whether untrusted users have execute permission on parent directories but lack read access to files within them.
    Affected if Untrusted users have traversal (execute) access to directories containing files they should not be able to read, and those files or parent directories contain extended attributes.

A user is affected if they run a Hadoop version in the vulnerable range, use HDFS with extended attributes enabled, and have directories where untrusted users have traversal access to files with xattrs they should not be able to read.

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 2.7.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Apache Hadoop to version 2.7.6, 2.8.4, 2.9.1, or 3.0.1 or later. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, restrict HDFS access through strict ACLs and ensure users only have necessary file/directory permissions.

Fix this in Hadoop Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
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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-2018-1296 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
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