NTP BUG 2913: mode 7 loop counter underrun

Last update: April 22, 2024 18:49 UTC (7e7bd5857)

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Summary

Resolved	4.2.8p4	21 Oct 2015
References	Bug 2913	CVE-2015-7848
Affects	All ntp-4 releases up to, but not including 4.2.8p4, and 4.3.0 up to, but not including 4.3.77.	Resolved in 4.2.8p4.
CVSS2 Score	4.6	AV:N/AC:H/Au:M/C:N/I:N/A:C

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Description

If ntpd is configured to enable mode 7 packets, and if the use of mode 7 packets is not properly protected thru the use of the available mode 7 authentication and restriction mechanisms, and if the (possibly spoofed) source IP address is allowed to send mode 7 queries, then an attacker can send a crafted packet to ntpd that will cause it to crash.

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Mitigation

• Implement BCP-38.
• Upgrade to 4.2.8p4 or later.
• If you are unable to upgrade:
  • In ntp-4.2.8, mode 7 is disabled by default. Don’t enable it.
  • If you must enable mode 7:
    • configure the use of a requestkey to control who can issue mode 7 requests.
    • configure restrict noquery to further limit mode 7 requests to trusted sources.
• Monitor your ntpd instances.

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Credit

This weakness was discovered by Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos.

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Timeline

• 2015 Oct 21: Public release
• 2015 Oct 6: Early Access Program Release: Premier and Partner Institutional Members
• 2015 Aug 26: Notification to Institutional Members for 1593, 1774, 2382, 2899, and 2902
• 2015 Aug 20: Initial notification of 2902; analysis begins
• 2015 Aug 11: Initial notification of 2899; analysis begins