GHSA-f686-hw9c-xw9c — snowflake-jdbc
MEDIUMGHSA-f686-hw9c-xw9c is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-326 vulnerability in net.snowflake:snowflake-jdbc. A fix is available for net.snowflake:snowflake-jdbc — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Snowflake JDBC Security Advisory
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-f686-hw9c-xw9c.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-f686-hw9c-xw9c plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
net.snowflake:snowflake-jdbcReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impacted Products
Snowflake JDBC driver versions >= 3.2.6 & <= 3.19.1 are affected.
Introduction
Snowflake recently identified an issue affecting JDBC drivers that can result in data being uploaded to an encrypted stage without the additional layer of protection provided by client side encryption. The issue, which affects only a subset of accounts hosted on Azure and GCP deployments (AWS deployments are not affected), manifests in instances where customers create a stage using a JDBC driver with the CLIENT_ENCRYPTION_KEY_SIZE account parameter set to 256-bit rather than the default 128-bit. The data is still protected by TLS in transit and server side encryption at rest. This missed layer of the additional protection is not visible to the affected customers.
Incorrect Security Setting Vulnerability
Description
Snowflake identified an incorrect security setting in Snowflake JDBC drivers. Snowflake has evaluated the severity of the issue and determined it was in medium range with a maximum CVSSv3 base score of 5.9.
Scenarios and attack vector(s)
Users of Snowflake JDBC drivers with accounts on Azure and GCP deployments who set the parameter CLIENT_ENCRYPTION_KEY_SIZE = 256 were subject to this incorrect security setting vulnerability as it could result in data being uploaded to a stage without an additional layer for encryption.
Our response
On July 23, 2024, Snowflake discovered this vulnerability. On 10/28/2024, Snowflake released a patch in Snowflake JDBC driver Version 3.20.0. The patch fixes the incorrect security setting.
Resolution
We strongly recommend users to upgrade to 3.20.0 or later versions as soon as possible.
Contact
If you discover a security vulnerability in one of our products or websites, please report the issue to HackerOne. For more information, please see our Vulnerability Disclosure Policy.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | net.snowflake:snowflake-jdbc | ≥ 3.2.6&&< 3.20.0 | 3.20.0net.snowflake:snowflake-jdbc:3.20.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for net.snowflake:snowflake-jdbc, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update net.snowflake:snowflake-jdbc to 3.20.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-f686-hw9c-xw9c is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-f686-hw9c-xw9c can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-f686-hw9c-xw9c. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-f686-hw9c-xw9c in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-f686-hw9c-xw9c across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.