Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
MongoDB servers in the affected 3.6 and 4.0 ranges can be crashed or made unavailable by a logged-in user who can run database queries. The impact is service disruption, not data theft or data modification, based on the supplied CVSS vector.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate availability risk. Prioritize remediation for business-critical MongoDB systems, especially where many users or applications can issue queries.
Technical view
CVE-2018-20805 is a MongoDB Server denial-of-service issue involving specially crafted queries using $elemMatch. It affects MongoDB Server 4.0 before 4.0.5 and 3.6 before 3.6.10. CVSS 3.1 rates availability impact high, requiring low privileges and no user interaction.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to MongoDB Server 3.6 or 4.0 deployments below the fixed versions where users or applications can authenticate and issue database queries.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires query authorization, so compromised low-privilege accounts or untrusted application users are the main concern.
Researcher notes
The evidence identifies affected versions, privilege requirements, impact type, and vendor reference. It does not provide exploit-in-the-wild evidence in the supplied bundle. Avoid assuming broader MongoDB versions or products are affected.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade MongoDB Server 4.0 deployments to 4.0.5 or later.
- Upgrade MongoDB Server 3.6 deployments to 3.6.10 or later.
- Review MongoDB vendor guidance for any deployment-specific mitigations.
- Restrict database query privileges to trusted users and applications only.
Validation and detection
- Inventory MongoDB Server versions across production and non-production systems.
- Confirm no 3.6 deployment is older than 3.6.10.
- Confirm no 4.0 deployment is older than 4.0.5.
- Review accounts allowed to execute database queries.
- Check monitoring for unexplained MongoDB availability incidents.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-834: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupDatabase behavior lookup
The CVE wording references database injection or access, so collection and exfiltration review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2018-20805 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H2.83.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.5MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/SERVER-38164CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Excessive Iteration
Excessive Iteration represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.