ClickhouseApplication

CVE-2018-14671

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-08-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 18.10.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 ClickHouse before 18.10.3, unixODBC allowed loading arbitrary shared objects from the file system which led to a Remote Code Execution vulnerability.

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 ClickHouse before version 18.10.3, the unixODBC integration allows loading arbitrary shared objects (.so files) from the file system, enabling an attacker to execute arbitrary code by specifying a malicious library path.

MitigationUpgrade ClickHouse to version 18.10.3 or later; if unixODBC is not required, disable or remove the unixODBC integration to eliminate the attack surface.

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
ClickhouseApplication
Affected:< 18.10.3

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
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 checks

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

  1. Check installed ClickHouse version
    Run `clickhouse-server --version` or `clickhouse-client --version` to determine the exact version number
    Affected if The version is lower than 18.10.3 (e.g., 18.10.2, 18.6.0, etc.)
  2. Verify unixODBC integration is present
    Check if the unixODBC driver manager is installed on the system (e.g., `odbcinst -q -d` or look for libodbc.so in the system)
    Affected if unixODBC is installed and ClickHouse was built with ODBC support
  3. Identify if ClickHouse has ODBC function support enabled
    Check ClickHouse configuration files (typically in /etc/clickhouse-server/) for ODBC function definitions or check if the clickhouse-odbc-bridge process exists
    Affected if ODBC table functions (odbc()) are enabled in the configuration or accessible to users
  4. Check for ODBC driver configuration files
    Inspect /etc/odbc.ini or /etc/unixODBC/odbc.ini for data source definitions that ClickHouse might use
    Affected if ODBC data sources are configured and accessible to the ClickHouse process

A user is affected if they run ClickHouse version below 18.10.3 AND have unixODBC integration enabled, allowing potential loading of malicious shared libraries through ODBC function calls.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 18.10.3 or later
Fixed in 18.10.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade ClickHouse to version 18.10.3 or later; if unixODBC is not required, disable or remove the unixODBC integration to eliminate the attack surface.

Recommended fix High confidence

18.10.3 or later

  1. Backup your ClickHouse data and configuration files before upgrading
  2. Stop the ClickHouse server service
  3. Upgrade ClickHouse to version 18.10.3 or later using your package manager or installation method
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the ClickHouse version
  5. Restart the ClickHouse server service
  6. Test that your applications can connect and query the database properly
Caveat Review the release notes between your current version and 18.10.3 for any backward-incompatible changes before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Clickhouse Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2018-14671 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