Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2016-2518: NTP Project NTP out-of-bounds reference in MATCH_ASSOC

CVE-2016-2518 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.3 · Published 2017-01-30

Vendors: NTP Project.

Executive brief

A vulnerability in the Network Time Protocol (NTP) service, which is used to synchronize clocks across computer networks, could allow a remote attacker to cause a service disruption. By sending a specially crafted request, an attacker can trigger an error that may cause the software to crash or behave unpredictably. This could impact the reliability of time-sensitive operations and logging across the organization.

Technical details

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in the MATCH_ASSOC function of the NTP daemon (ntpd). The flaw is triggered when the software processes an 'addpeer' request containing an excessively large 'hmode' value, leading to an out-of-bounds reference. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this over the network to cause a denial-of-service condition. The issue is addressed in NTP versions 4.2.8p9 and 4.3.92.

Affected products

  • NTP Project NTP Before 4.2.8p9, 4.3.x before 4.3.92

Timeline

  • 2016-04-28: advisory: Initial vendor security notice published
  • 2017-01-30: disclosed: NVD publication date

References