CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-24719 — Exposed Erlang Cookie could lead to Remote Command Execution (RCE) attack

Critical CVSS 9.8

Exposed Erlang Cookie could lead to Remote Command Execution (RCE) attack. Communication between Erlang nodes is done by exchanging a shared secret (aka "magic cookie"). There are cases where the magic cookie is included in the content of the logs. An attacker can use the cookie to attach to an Erlang node and run OS level commands on the system running the Erlang node. Affects version: 6.5.1. Fix version: 6.6.0.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2020-11-12
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-78

Affected products

  • couchbase / couchbase_server

Matched remediation archetype

Command, code, expression, and template injection

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Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
  • Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
  • Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.

Remediate safely

  • Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
  • Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
  • Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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