CVE-2018-15804
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 the MapR File System in MapR Converged Data Platform and MapR-XD 6.x and earlier. Under certain conditions, it is possible for MapR ticket credentials to become compromised, allowing a user to escalate their privileges to act as (aka impersonate) any other user, including cluster administrators, aka bug# 31935. This affects all users who have enabled security on the MapR platform and is fixed in mapr-patch-5.2.1.42646.GA-20180731093831, mapr-patch-5.2.2.44680.GA-20180802011430, mapr-patch-6.0.0.20171109191718.GA-20180802011420, and mapr-patch-6.0.1.20180404222005.GA-20180806214919.
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 confidenceThe MapR File System has a credential handling flaw where MapR ticket credentials can become compromised under certain conditions. This allows authenticated users to impersonate any other user on the platform, including cluster administrators, effectively bypassing the authentication and authorization controls.
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< 6.0.1CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 MapR versionRun 'maprcli version' or check /opt/mapr/MapRBuildVersion fileAffected if Installed version is less than 6.0.1
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Verify impersonation configurationRun 'maprcli cluster getconfig' and look for 'security.impersonation' or 'mapr.impersonation' parametersAffected if Impersonation is enabled in the cluster configuration
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Inspect MapR ticket filesCheck /opt/mapr/conf/tickets directory or run 'ls -la /opt/mapr/conf/maprticket*' for ticket file permissions and ageAffected if Multiple or stale ticket files exist with overly permissive access
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Test impersonation capabilityAs an authenticated MapR user, attempt to impersonate another user using 'hadoop fs -ls /' with -impersonate flag or maprcli impersonation commands if availableAffected if Authenticated users can successfully impersonate other users including administrators
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Review audit logs for impersonation eventsCheck MapR audit logs in /opt/mapr/logs/audit/ for entries containing 'impersonate' or 'impersonation' keywordsAffected if Audit logs show successful impersonation events by non-admin users
If the MapR version is below 6.0.1 and impersonation is enabled in the configuration, the environment is likely vulnerable to credential compromise and unauthorized impersonation.
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 data6.0.1
Apply the appropriate MapR patch (mapr-patch-5.2.1.42646, 5.2.2.44680, 6.0.0.20171109191718, or 6.0.1.20180404222005) based on the installed version. Verify that impersonation is no longer possible after patching.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $3,328.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-15804 — 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-2018-15804 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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- 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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