---
id: CVE-2026-86471
title: >-
  Apache CouchDB: Admin credentials leading to code execution as operating
  system user
summary: >-
  An unvalidated runtime configuration value in Apache CouchDB 3.5.2 and below
  on all platforms allows a CouchDB server admin to run arbitrary shell commands
  as the CouchDB operating system user.


  Users are recommended to upgrade to versio…
severity: critical
cvss: 9.3
cvssVector: >-
  CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:H/SI:H/SA:L/E:A/S:N/AU:Y/R:U/V:C/RE:M/U:Red
cvssSource: cna
vendor: Apache Software Foundation
product: Apache CouchDB
affected:
  - apache_couchdb < 3.5.3
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-10-20T16:54:35.806498Z'
published: '2026-10-20'
updated: '2026-10-20'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-20T18:10:04.288Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-86471'
references:
  - url: 'https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/pj83174r8f8f64odf47fwhozbfjtot0f'
  - url: 'https://lists.apache.org/thread/c8p73gswgogtnzvk7hpw8jb8d4mnosdp'
tags:
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-10-20T16:10:53.307Z'
---

## Overview

An unvalidated runtime configuration value in Apache CouchDB 3.5.2 and below on all platforms allows a CouchDB server admin to run arbitrary shell commands as the CouchDB operating system user.

Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.5.3, which fixes this issue.

## Affected

- `apache_couchdb < 3.5.3`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.