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CVE-2016-10152: Hesiod Project: Privilege escalation
CVE-2016-10152 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.8 and affects Hesiod Project. 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
The read_config_file function in lib/hesiod.c in Hesiod 3.2.1 falls back to the ".athena.mit.edu" default domain when opening the configuration file fails, which allows remote attackers to gain root privileges by poisoning the DNS cache.
Severity breakdown
CVSS v3.0 9.8: CVSS:3.0/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.
Affected products
- Hesiod Project: up to and including 3.2.1