In Apache Hadoop 3.1.0 to 3.1.1, 3.0.0-alpha1 to 3.0.3, 2.9.0 to 2.9.1, and 2.0.0-alpha to 2.8.4, the user/group information can be corrupted across storing in fsimage and reading back from fsimage.
Vulnerability in Apache Hadoop 0.23.x, 2.x before 2.7.5, 2.8.x before 2.8.3, and 3.0.0-alpha through 3.0.0-beta1 allows a cluster user to expose private files owned by the user running the MapReduce job history server process. The malicious user can construct a configuration file containing XML directives that reference sensitive files on the MapReduce job history server host.
Apache Hadoop before 0.23.4, 1.x before 1.0.4, and 2.x before 2.0.2 generate token passwords using a 20-bit secret when Kerberos security features are enabled, which makes it easier for context-dependent attackers to crack secret keys via a brute-force attack.
Apache Hadoop 0.23.x before 0.23.11 and 2.x before 2.4.1, as used in Cloudera CDH 5.0.x before 5.0.2, do not check authorization for the (1) refreshNamenodes, (2) deleteBlockPool, and (3) shutdownDatanode HDFS admin commands, which allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (DataNodes shutdown) or perform unnecessary operations by issuing a command.
The YARN NodeManager daemon in Apache Hadoop 0.23.0 through 0.23.11 and 2.x before 2.5.2, when using Kerberos authentication, allows remote cluster users to change the permissions of certain files to world-readable via a symlink attack in a public tar archive, which is not properly handled during localization, related to distributed cache.
It was reported [1] that:
"The Apache Hadoop RPC protocol is intended to provide bidirectional authentication between clients and servers. However, a malicious server or network attacker can unilaterally disable these authentication checks. This allows for potential reduction in the configured quality of protection of the RPC traffic, and privilege escalation if authentication credentials are passed over RPC."
This flaw only affects users who have enabled Hadoop's kerberos security features. This is corrected in upstream versions 0.23.9, 1.2.1, and 2.0.6-alpha.
[1] http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2013/Aug/251