dbcve.org
Sync GatewayApplication · Couchbase

CVE-2022-32563

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-06-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.0.2 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
An issue was discovered in Couchbase Sync Gateway 3.x before 3.0.2. Admin credentials are not verified when using X.509 client-certificate authentication from Sync Gateway to Couchbase Server. When Sync Gateway is configured to authenticate with Couchbase Server using X.509 client certificates, the admin credentials provided to the Admin REST API are ignored, resulting in privilege escalation for unauthenticated users. The Public REST API is not impacted by this issue. A workaround is to replace X.509 certificate based authentication with Username and Password authentication inside the bootstrap configuration.

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 Couchbase Sync Gateway 3.x before 3.0.2, when configured to authenticate with Couchbase Server using X.509 client certificates, the admin credentials submitted to the Admin REST API are silently ignored during authentication. This allows any user to gain administrative privileges by simply providing any username to the Admin REST API without a valid password, since the system falls back to trusting the X.509 certificate chain for authentication while skipping credential validation entirely.

MitigationUpgrade Couchbase Sync Gateway to version 3.0.2 or later. As a workaround, replace X.509 certificate-based authentication with username/password authentication in the bootstrap configuration until the upgrade can be completed.

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
Sync GatewayApplication
Affected:>= 3.0.0, < 3.0.2

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:3.1/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 Couchbase Sync Gateway version
    Run 'sync_gateway --version' or check the service log file for the version banner at startup, or query the GET / API endpoint
    Affected if The installed version is 3.0.0 or 3.0.1 (any version >= 3.0.0 and < 3.0.2)
  2. Identify the bootstrap configuration file
    Locate the sync_gateway.json or the configuration file specified in the Sync Gateway startup command, commonly found in /opt/sync_gateway/etc/sync_gateway.json or /etc/sync_gateway/sync_gateway.json
    Affected if The configuration file exists and contains server authentication settings
  3. Verify if X.509 client certificate authentication is configured
    Inspect the bootstrap configuration for the 'server' section and check for 'tls_cert_path' and 'tls_key_path' options under the server URL configuration, or look for 'x509_cert_auth: true' in the configuration
    Affected if The server configuration includes tls_cert_path and tls_key_path for client certificate authentication to Couchbase Server
  4. Confirm the authentication method is certificate-based
    Check if the configuration does NOT contain 'username' and 'password' fields under the server section, which would indicate password-based authentication is not in use
    Affected if The server configuration relies solely on X.509 certificates for authentication without username/password credentials

You are affected if running Sync Gateway 3.0.0-3.0.1 AND the configuration uses X.509 client certificate authentication (tls_cert_path/tls_key_path) without username/password credentials for Couchbase Server connection.

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 3.0.2 or later
Fixed in 3.0.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Couchbase Sync Gateway to version 3.0.2 or later. As a workaround, replace X.509 certificate-based authentication with username/password authentication in the bootstrap configuration until the upgrade can be completed.

Recommended fix High confidence

Sync Gateway 3.0.2

  1. Upgrade Couchbase Sync Gateway to version 3.0.2 or later

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

Fix this in Sync Gateway Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

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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-2022-32563 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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