The vulnerability is an operating system command injection in the browser-based authentication component of the Amazon Athena ODBC driver on Linux. Specially crafted connection parameters that the driver loads during a local user‑initiated connection can cause the driver to execute arbitrary system commands. This is a classic CWE‑78 weakness, allowing an attacker who can influence the connection string to run arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running the driver, potentially compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the host.

Amazon’s Athena ODBC driver for Linux before version 2.0.5.1 is affected. Users who have installed this driver on their Linux systems are at risk; the manufacturer lists the driver under Amazon Athena ODBC in their security bulletins and release notes.

The CVSS base score is 7.3, indicating a high impact, while the EPSS score is below 1% and the vulnerability is not yet listed in the CISA KEV catalog, suggesting current exploitation potential is low. However, the attack requires a local user to initiate an ODBC connection with malicious parameters, which means that if a user account is compromised or the driver is used in an untrusted environment, remote code execution is possible. The vulnerability’s severity and the fact that it can be directly triggered by crafted input raise the overall risk to a higher level for systems with loosely controlled access to the driver.