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

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-03-15 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-269

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.

Affected products

snowflakedb snowflake-hive-metastore-connector: before 2024-02-09 — fixed in 2024-02-09

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: snowflakedb snowflake-hive-metastore-connector 2024-02-09. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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