# CVE-2018-11792: Privilege escalation in Apache Impala

> Users with ALTER on a table and ALL on a database can escalate privileges by moving the table to the privileged database.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 Oct 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gj3w-xp87-cxx2

## What is CVE-2018-11792?

CVE-2018-11792 is a critical vulnerability in Apache Impala, published on 24 Oct 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In Apache Impala before 3.0.1, ALTER TABLE/VIEW RENAME required ALTER on the old table. This may pose a potential security risk, such as having ALTER on a table and ALL on a particular database allows a user to move the table to a database with ALL, which will automatically grant that user with ALL privilege on that table due to the privilege inherited from the database.

Weakness: CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-11792?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Apache Impala.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-11792?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-11792 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-11792 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-11792 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Apache Impala

- [CVE-2026-56207](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-56207/): Apache Impala: SAML authentication bypass via forged bearer token (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-5640](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5640/): Auth bypass in Apache Impala (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-57866](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-57866/): Apache Impala: Secrets Exfiltration via SSRF (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-65181](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-65181/): Apache Impala: RCE via External Data Source Class Loading (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2021-28131](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28131/): Impala logs contain secrets (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-11792 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-11792 is a critical vulnerability in Apache Impala, published on 24 Oct 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-11792 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Apache Impala. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11792/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11792/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-11792
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-11792
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-11792

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11792/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.