Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2001-0967: Arkeia: Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort

CVE-2001-0967 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 and affects Arkeia. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

Knox Arkeia server 4.2, and possibly other versions, uses a constant salt when encrypting passwords using the crypt() function, which makes it easier for an attacker to conduct brute force password guessing.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.1 9.8: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-916: Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort

The product generates a hash for a password, but it uses a scheme that does not provide a sufficient level of computational effort that would make password cracking attacks infeasible or expensive.

Affected products

  • Arkeia: 4.2; 4.2.8-2

References