Privilege escalation via writable CTE filter bypass
Published Nov 27, 2023 · Updated Jun 3, 2025
Incorrect authorization in Apache Superset before 2.1.2 allows remote authenticated users to alter metadata through SQL Lab. The SQL statement classifier treats a WITH common table expression as read-only even when it wraps INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE with RETURNING, so the default examples connection writes to Superset metadata tables. Access to SQL Lab and the shared default examples connection is required; changing ab_user_role data grants an existing low-privileged account the Administrator role.
Summary
What happened
Incorrect authorization in Apache Superset before 2.1.2 allows remote authenticated users to alter metadata through SQL Lab. The SQL statement classifier treats a WITH common table expression as read-only even when it wraps INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE with RETURNING, so the default examples connection writes to Superset metadata tables. Access to SQL Lab and the shared default examples connection is required; changing ab_user_role data grants an existing low-privileged account the Administrator role.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-40610
- Published
- Nov 27, 2023
- Updated
- Jun 3, 2025
- Vendor
- The Apache Software Foundation
- Product
- Apache Superset
- Classifications
- CWE-863, T1098
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Nov 27, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jun 3, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <2.1.2
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
- Writable CTE SQL Lab privilege-escalation proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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