NifiApplication · Apache

CVE-2018-17194

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-12-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.7.1 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
When a client request to a cluster node was replicated to other nodes in the cluster for verification, the Content-Length was forwarded. On a DELETE request, the body was ignored, but if the initial request had a Content-Length value other than 0, the receiving nodes would wait for the body and eventually timeout. Mitigation: The fix to check DELETE requests and overwrite non-zero Content-Length header values was applied on the Apache NiFi 1.8.0 release. Users running a prior 1.x release should upgrade to the appropriate release.

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 Apache NiFi clusters, when a client request is replicated to other nodes for verification, the Content-Length header is forwarded. On DELETE requests, the body should be ignored, but if the original request had a non-zero Content-Length value, receiving nodes wait for a body that never arrives, causing timeouts.

MitigationUpgrade to Apache NiFi 1.8.0 or later, which implements proper handling of DELETE requests by checking for and overwriting non-zero Content-Length header values.

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
NifiApplication
Affected:>= 1.0.0, <= 1.7.1

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Identify the installed NiFi version
    Check the version by reviewing the nifi-version file in the NiFi installation directory, or log into the NiFi web UI and look at the version displayed in the footer of any page
    Affected if The version is 1.0.0 through 1.7.1 inclusive
  2. Confirm NiFi is running in cluster mode
    Examine the nifi.properties file for the 'nifi.cluster.is.node' property set to 'true', or check the cluster configuration in the NiFi UI under the Cluster menu
    Affected if NiFi is configured as a node in a cluster (this vulnerability only affects cluster deployments)
  3. Verify cluster communications are enabled
    Check that 'nifi.cluster.protocol.heartbeat.interval' and cluster protocol properties are configured in nifi.properties, indicating inter-node replication is active
    Affected if Cluster communication and request replication between nodes is enabled

You are affected if your NiFi version is between 1.0.0 and 1.7.1 AND the NiFi instance is configured as part of a cluster where DELETE requests with non-zero Content-Length headers are replicated to other nodes.

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 1.7.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Apache NiFi 1.8.0 or later, which implements proper handling of DELETE requests by checking for and overwriting non-zero Content-Length header values.

Fix this in Nifi Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,340
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,144.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2018-17194 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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