# CVE-2023-29195: Vitess VTAdmin users that can create shards can deny access to other functions

> Users with shard creation privileges can cause denial of service in VTAdmin by creating shards with invalid characters, blocking further shard creation and keyspace viewing.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 11 May 2023
- **Updated:** 24 Jan 2025
- **Also known as:** AZL-26696, GHSA-pqj7-jx24-wj7w

## What is CVE-2023-29195?

CVE-2023-29195 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in vitessio vitess, published on 11 May 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Vitess is a database clustering system for horizontal scaling of MySQL through generalized sharding. Prior to version 16.0.2, users can either intentionally or inadvertently create a shard containing `/` characters from VTAdmin such that from that point on, anyone who tries to create a new shard from VTAdmin will receive an error. Attempting to view the keyspace(s) will also no longer work. Creating a shard using `vtctldclient` does not have the same problem because the CLI validates the input correctly. Version 16.0.2, corresponding to version 0.16.2 of the `go` module, contains a patch for this issue. Some workarounds are available. Always use `vtctldclient` to create shards, instead of using VTAdmin; disable creating shards from VTAdmin using RBAC; and/or delete the topology record for the offending shard using the client for your topology server.

Weakness: CWE-703 (Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions), CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-29195?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including vitess.io/vitess. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `vitess.io/vitess` | Go | All versions | 0.16.2 |
| `vitess.io/vitess` | Go | All versions | 0.16.2 |

Products: Linuxfoundation Vitess.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-29195?

Upgrade vitess.io/vitess to 0.16.2 or later.

## Is CVE-2023-29195 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-29195 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in vitessio vitess

- [CVE-2026-104252](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-104252/): Vitess vttablet /twopcz reflected XSS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-27969](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-27969/): Vitess users with backup storage access can write to arbitrary file paths on restore (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2026-27965](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-27965/): Vitess users with backup storage access can gain unauthorized access to production deployment environments (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2023-29194](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-29194/): vitess allows users to create keyspaces that can deny access to already existing keyspaces (medium 4.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-29195 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-29195 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in vitessio vitess, published on 11 May 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-29195 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- vitess.io/vitess (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 0.16.2
- vitess.io/vitess (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 0.16.2

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-2023-29195/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-29195/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-29195
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-29195
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-29195

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-29195/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.