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

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2023-05-11 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-20

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.

Affected products

vitessio vitess: before 16.0.2 — fixed in 16.0.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: vitessio vitess 16.0.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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