CouchDB version 3.0.0 shipped with a new configuration setting that governs access control to the entire database server called `require_va…

published 2020-05-20 6 y ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-couchdb-2020-1955 , EUVD-2020-12754

cvss: 9.8; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.8%; EPSS 1.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 79%
public exploits: 0; none known

CouchDB version 3.0.0 shipped with a new configuration setting that governs access control to the entire database server called `require_valid_user_except_for_up`. It was meant as an extension to the long standing setting `require_valid_user`, which in turn requires that any and all requests to CouchDB will have to be made with valid credentials, effectively forbidding any anonymous requests. The new `require_valid_user_except_for_up` is an off-by-default setting that was meant to allow requiring valid credentials for all endpoints except for the `/_up` endpoint. However, the implementation of this made an error that lead to not enforcing credentials on any endpoint, when enabled. CouchDB versions 3.0.1[1] and 3.1.0[2] fix this issue.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

bitnami couchdb 3.0.1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2020-1955 updated 2025-11-21 cvss 8.1

couchdb: remote privilege escalation when require_valid_user_except_for_up setting is enable

Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat products
not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

1.85% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 79% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	2.0	6.8	AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
OSV	3.1	9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
bitnami	couchdb	>=3.0.0, <3.0.1	3.0.1

Affected products

n/a Apache CouchDB

Classification

Weakness

CWE-306 Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality

References

docs.couchdb.org /en/master/cve/2020-1955.html
mitigation, vendor-advisory, advisory
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2020-1955
web

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary