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CVE-2018-11770


From version 1.3.0 onward, Apache Spark's standalone master exposes a REST API for job submission, in addition to the submission mechanism used by spark-submit. In standalone, the config property 'spark.authenticate.secret' establishes a shared secret for authenticating requests to submit jobs via spark-submit. However, the REST API does not use this or any other authentication mechanism, and this is not adequately documented. In this case, a user would be able to run a driver program without authenticating, but not launch executors, using the REST API. This REST API is also used by Mesos, when set up to run in cluster mode (i.e., when also running MesosClusterDispatcher), for job submission. Future versions of Spark will improve documentation on these points, and prohibit setting 'spark.authenticate.secret' when running the REST APIs, to make this clear. Future versions will also disable the REST API by default in the standalone master by changing the default value of 'spark.master.rest.enabled' to 'false'.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 4.2, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network but requires specific conditions to be met without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts limited data confidentiality, limited integrity, for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from apache organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2018, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.


Published

2018-08-13T16:29:00.650

Last Modified

2024-11-21T03:43:59.817

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 4.2 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N

  • Access Vector: NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: MEDIUM
  • Authentication: SINGLE
  • Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
  • Integrity Impact: PARTIAL
  • Availability Impact: NONE
Exploitability Score

6.8

Impact Score

4.9

Weaknesses
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-287

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Application apache spark < 2.4.0 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For apache's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.