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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2021-38295

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2021-10-14
  • Fixed in3.1.2
  • WeaknessCWE-79

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

In Apache CouchDB, a malicious user with permission to create documents in a database is able to attach a HTML attachment to a document. If a CouchDB admin opens that attachment in a browser, e.g. via the CouchDB admin interface Fauxton, any JavaScript code embedded in that HTML attachment will be executed within the security context of that admin. A similar route is available with the already deprecated _show and _list functionality. This privilege escalation vulnerability allows an attacker to add or remove data in any database or make configuration changes. This issue affected Apache CouchDB prior to 3.1.2

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2021-10-1420:15CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2026-10-2319:23First public proof of conceptPoC-in-GitHub

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-38295?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-38295?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD · OSV
Apache couchdb
BranchAffectedFixed in
3.1< 3.1.23.1.2

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

  1. Update Apache couchdb to 3.1.2

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-10-23 19:23 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
1 repository, unverifiedProfessionallyEvil/CVE-2021-38295-PoC
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

  • NVDCVSS 3.17.3read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.06read 2026-10-23
  • NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-79read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score2.7 %2026-10-22
  • PoC-in-GitHubproof of concept1read 2026-10-23
  • OSVaffected packages—

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2021-10-14
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-38295?

In Apache CouchDB, a malicious user with permission to create documents in a database is able to attach a HTML attachment to a document. If a CouchDB admin opens that attachment in a browser, e.g. via the CouchDB admin interface Fauxton, any JavaScript code embedded in that HTML attachment will be executed within the security context of that admin. A similar route is available with the already deprecated _show and _list functionality. This privilege escalation vulnerability allows an attacker to add or remove data in any database or make configuration changes. This issue affected Apache CouchDB prior to 3.1.2

Is CVE-2021-38295 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2021-38295 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 2.7% on 2026-10-22, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-38295?

CVE-2021-38295 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.3 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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