CVE-2018-16153
Opencast publishes global system account credentials
An issue was discovered in Apereo Opencast 4.x through 10.x before 10.6. It sends system digest credentials during authentication attempts to arbitrary external services in some situations.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
An issue was discovered in Apereo Opencast 4.x through 10.x before 10.6. It sends system digest credentials during authentication attempts to arbitrary external services in some situations.
- Record
CVE-2018-16153- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-522
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List
An issue was discovered in Apereo Opencast 4.x through 10.x before 10.6. It sends system digest credentials during authentication attempts to arbitrary external services in some situations.
- Record
CVE-2018-16153- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-522
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-2529
An issue was discovered in Apereo Opencast 4.x through 10.x before 10.6. It sends system digest credentials during authentication attempts to arbitrary external services in some situations.
- Record
EUVD-2021-2529- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-hcxx-mp6g-6gr9
Opencast publishes global system account credentials
The issue was mostly mitigated before, drastically reducing the risk. See references below for more information.
Impact
Opencast before version 10.6 will try to authenticate against any external services listed in a media package when it is trying to access the files, sending the global system user's credentials, regardless of the target being part of the Opencast cluster or not.
Previous mitigations already prevented clear text authentications for such requests (e.g. HTTP Basic authentication), but with enough malicious intent, even hashed credentials can be broken.
Patches
Opencast 10.6 will now send authentication requests only against servers which are part of the Opencast cluster, preventing external services from getting any form of authentication attempt in the first place.
Workarounds
No workaround available.
References
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in our issue tracker
- Email us at [email protected]
- Record
GHSA-hcxx-mp6g-6gr9- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200, CWE-522
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
An issue was discovered in Apereo Opencast 4.x through 10.x before 10.6. It sends system digest credentials during authentication attempts to arbitrary external services in some situations.
- Record
CVE-2018-16153- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-hcxx-mp6g-6gr9
Opencast publishes global system account credentials
The issue was mostly mitigated before, drastically reducing the risk. See references below for more information.
Impact
Opencast before version 10.6 will try to authenticate against any external services listed in a media package when it is trying to access the files, sending the global system user's credentials, regardless of the target being part of the Opencast cluster or not.
Previous mitigations already prevented clear text authentications for such requests (e.g. HTTP Basic authentication), but with enough malicious intent, even hashed credentials can be broken.
Patches
Opencast 10.6 will now send authentication requests only against servers which are part of the Opencast cluster, preventing external services from getting any form of authentication attempt in the first place.
Workarounds
No workaround available.
References
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in our issue tracker
- Email us at [email protected]
- Record
GHSA-hcxx-mp6g-6gr9- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200, CWE-522
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
org.opencastproject:opencast-commonMaven |
before 10.6 | 10.6 |
org.opencastproject:opencast-commonMaven |
before 10.6, plus listed versions 10.010.110.210.310.4 Show 33 moreShow less10.56.67.27.37.47.57.67.77.87.98.08.18.108.118.38.48.58.68.78.88.99.09.19.109.119.129.29.39.49.59.69.79.9 |
10.6 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2018-16153 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Apereo Opencast, published December 14, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.83%, the 57th percentile. Fixed in org.opencastproject:opencast-common 10.6.
References
apereo.org/projects/opencast/news
github.com/advisories/GHSA-hcxx-mp6g-6gr9
docs.opencast.org/r/10.x/admin
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-16153