# CVE-2023-38156: Azure HDInsight Apache Ambari JDBC Injection Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

> Attackers can exploit JDBC injection in Azure HDInsight Ambari to escalate privileges and potentially execute code.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Sep 2023
- **Updated:** 30 Oct 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8jf3-q63c-77rv

## What is CVE-2023-38156?

CVE-2023-38156 is a high-severity SQL injection vulnerability in Microsoft Azure HDInsight, published on 12 Sep 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Azure HDInsight Apache Ambari JDBC Injection Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-38156?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Microsoft Azure Hdinsight.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-38156?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-38156 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-38156 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-38156 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Azure HDInsight

- [CVE-2023-36419](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-36419/): Azure HDInsight Apache Oozie Workflow Scheduler XXE Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-81349](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-81349/): Azure HDInsight Ambari Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2026-21529](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-21529/): Azure HDInsight Spoofing Vulnerability (medium 5.7)
- [CVE-2023-35394](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-35394/): Azure HDInsight Jupyter Notebook Spoofing Vulnerability (medium 4.6)
- [CVE-2023-35393](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-35393/): Azure Apache Hive Spoofing Vulnerability (medium 4.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-38156 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-38156 is a high-severity SQL injection vulnerability in Microsoft Azure HDInsight, published on 12 Sep 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-38156 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Microsoft Azure HDInsight. 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-2023-38156/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38156/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-38156
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-38156
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-38156

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38156/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.