CVE-2018-12972
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in OpenTSDB 2.3.0. Many parameters to the /q URI can execute commands, including o, key, style, and yrange and y2range and their JSON input.
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 confidenceOpenTSDB 2.3.0 contains a critical command injection vulnerability in its /q HTTP endpoint. Multiple query parameters (o, key, style, yrange, y2range, and their JSON variants) accept unsanitized input that gets passed to shell command execution, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary system commands.
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= 2.3.0CVSS 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 OpenTSDB versionCheck the installed OpenTSDB version by querying the /api/version endpoint or checking the package manager/pom.xml if source installation was usedAffected if Version is 2.3.0 exactly as listed in affected versions
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Confirm /q endpoint is accessibleVerify the OpenTSDB HTTP service is running and the /q query endpoint is exposed by sending a basic request to the host on the configured port (typically 4242)Affected if The /q endpoint is reachable and responds to HTTP requests
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Check for unauthenticated access to /qReview OpenTSDB configuration (opentsdb.conf) for authentication settings and verify whether the /q endpoint allows unauthenticated requestsAffected if The /q endpoint does not require authentication or has weak access controls
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Inspect query parameter handlingReview OpenTSDB source code or configuration to confirm that query parameters (o, key, style, yrange, y2range) are passed to Runtime.exec() or similar shell execution without sanitizationAffected if User-supplied input in these parameters flows directly to shell command execution without input validation
You are affected if you are running OpenTSDB version 2.3.0 with the /q endpoint accessible and no input validation or authentication is in place to prevent command injection via query parameters.
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 dataApply vendor patch or upgrade to a fixed version. If no patch available, implement strict input validation on all /q endpoint parameters and refactor code to avoid shell command execution with user-supplied data.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $14,656.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-12972 — 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-2018-12972 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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