# CVE-2024-28851: Elevation of privilege in Snowflake Hive MetaStore Connector Helper script

> A malicious insider can modify a helper script to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges on the local system.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 28 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-r68p-g2x9-mq7x

## What is CVE-2024-28851?

CVE-2024-28851 is a medium-severity vulnerability in snowflakedb snowflake-hive-metastore-connector, published on 15 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The Snowflake Hive metastore connector provides an easy way to query Hive-managed data via Snowflake. Snowflake Hive MetaStore Connector has addressed a potential elevation of privilege vulnerability in a `helper script` for the Hive MetaStore Connector. A malicious insider without admin privileges could, in theory, use the script to download content from a Microsoft domain to the local system and replace the valid content with malicious code. If the attacker then also had local access to the same system where the maliciously modified script is run, they could attempt to manipulate users into executing the attacker-controlled helper script, potentially gaining elevated privileges to the local system. The vulnerability in the script was patched on February 09, 2024, without a version bump to the Connector. User who use the helper script are strongly advised to use the latest version as soon as possible. Users unable to upgrade should avoid using the helper script.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-28851?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Snowflake Snowflake Hive Metastore Connector.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-28851?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-28851 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-28851 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-28851 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-28851 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-28851 is a medium-severity vulnerability in snowflakedb snowflake-hive-metastore-connector, published on 15 Mar 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-28851 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: snowflakedb snowflake-hive-metastore-connector. 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-2024-28851/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28851/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-28851
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-28851
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-28851

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28851/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.