Executive brief
Amazon Athena is a serverless SQL query service that can integrate with external data sources like ClickHouse through its Federated Query feature. A misconfiguration in the ClickHouse connector's deployment template allows authenticated users to steal AWS Secrets Manager secrets from the deploying account by redirecting the connector to attacker-controlled endpoints. This could expose sensitive credentials, API keys, and database passwords, leading to unauthorized access to other AWS resources and data.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a privilege escalation issue caused by incorrect IAM privilege assignment in the ClickHouse connector's CloudFormation deployment template before v2026.17.1. An authenticated remote user can exploit this by manipulating the connector's connection string to point to both an unrelated AWS Secrets Manager secret and a database endpoint under the attacker's control. When the connector attempts to retrieve the secret for authentication, it inadvertently transmits the secret value to the attacker-controlled endpoint, allowing credential theft. The attack requires authentication and the ability to modify connector configuration, but does not require AWS credentials. Patches are available in v2026.17.1 and later releases.
Affected products
- Amazon Athena Federated Query ClickHouse Connector < v2026.17.1
Timeline
- 2026-08-20: disclosed
- 2026-09-09: advisory