CVE-2018-17190 Remote Code Execution in spark-core

What is CVE-2018-17190?

CVE-2018-17190 is a critical code injection vulnerability in Apache Spark, published on 19 Nov 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In all versions of Apache Spark, its standalone resource manager accepts code to execute on a 'master' host, that then runs that code on 'worker' hosts. The master itself does not, by design, execute user code. A specially-crafted request to the master can, however, cause the master to execute code too. Note that this does not affect standalone clusters with authentication enabled. While the master host typically has less outbound access to other resources than a worker, the execution of code on the master is nevertheless unexpected.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-17190?

4 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.spark:spark-core_2.10 and org.apache.spark:spark-core_2.11. It affects 1 product.

Products include Apache Spark.

How do I fix CVE-2018-17190?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-17190 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and never evaluate templates, expressions or code built from user input. More about Code injection.

Is CVE-2018-17190 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-17190 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Apache Spark

• CVE-2022-33891 Apache Spark Command Injection Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2020-9480 Improper Authentication in Apache Spark Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-20445 HTTP Request Smuggling in Netty Critical 9.1
• CVE-2025-54920 Apache Spark: Spark History Server Code Execution Vulnerability High 8.8
• CVE-2023-32007 Apache Spark: Shell command injection via Spark UI High 8.8

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-phg2-9c5g-m4q7.