Executive brief
A vulnerability exists where networking and server equipment use easily guessable default passwords for the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). This protocol is used by administrators to monitor and manage devices on a network. If left unchanged, an unauthorized person could gain access to sensitive system information or modify device settings, potentially leading to a full takeover of the affected hardware.
Technical details
This vulnerability stems from the use of default or weak SNMP community strings (e.g., 'public', 'private', or null values) in various networking products and operating systems. SNMP community strings act as a form of password for the Simple Network Management Protocol; when these are set to well-known defaults, a remote attacker can query the device via the network without authentication. Depending on the permissions associated with the default string (read-only vs. read-write), an attacker can extract sensitive configuration data, monitor network traffic statistics, or modify system settings. The primary remediation is to disable SNMP if not required or to change the default community names to complex, unique strings.
Affected products
- Brocade Virtual Web Application Firewall
- Sun Microsystems Solaris 2.0
- Sun Microsystems SunOS 5.0
Timeline
- 1997-01-01: disclosed
- 1997-01-01: advisory: NVD Published Date
- 2017-04-28: advisory: Brocade initial advisory publication