Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2016-2786: Puppet Agent: Command injection

CVE-2016-2786 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 and affects Puppet Agent. 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 pxp-agent component in Puppet Enterprise 2015.3.x before 2015.3.3 and Puppet Agent 1.3.x before 1.3.6 does not properly validate server certificates, which might allow remote attackers to spoof brokers and execute arbitrary commands via a crafted certificate.

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-20: Improper Input Validation

The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.

Affected products

  • Puppet Agent: 1.3.0; 1.3.1; 1.3.2; 1.3.4; 1.3.5
  • Puppet Enterprise: 2015.3.0; 2015.3.2

References