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CVE-2015-5146

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users...

5.3 MediumFix available

CVE-2015-5146 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.3) in Ntp, published July 2, 2015. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 4.91%, the 92nd percentile. Fixed in ntp 1:4.2.8p3+dfsg-1.

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users with knowledge of the configuration password and access to a computer entrusted to perform remote configuration to cause a denial of service (service crash) via a NULL byte in a crafted configuration directive packet.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
Low
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

4.91%Up 3.1 points since Feb 4, 2022
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

NVD Score used 5.3

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users with knowledge of the configuration password and access to a computer entrusted to perform remote configuration to cause a denial of service (service crash) via a NULL byte in a crafted configuration directive packet.

Record
CVE-2015-5146
CVSS 3.0
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.0
3.5 LowAV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P
Weakness
CWE-20
Updated
2026-11-02
CVE List No score

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users with knowledge of the configuration password and access to a computer entrusted to perform remote configuration to cause a denial of service (service crash) via a NULL byte in a crafted configuration directive packet.

Record
CVE-2015-5146
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2015-5158 No score

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users with knowledge of the configuration password and access to a computer entrusted to perform remote configuration to cause a denial of service (service crash) via a NULL byte in a crafted configuration directive packet.

Record
EUVD-2015-5158
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-8463-8xmw-64wf 5.3

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users...

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users with knowledge of the configuration password and access to a computer entrusted to perform remote configuration to cause a denial of service (service crash) via a NULL byte in a crafted configuration directive packet.

Record
GHSA-8463-8xmw-64wf
CVSS 3.0
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness
CWE-20
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 5.3

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users with knowledge of the configuration password and access to a computer entrusted to perform remote configuration to cause a denial of service (service crash) via a NULL byte in a crafted configuration directive packet.

Record
CVE-2015-5146
CVSS 3.0
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2015-5146 5.3

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users with knowledge of the configuration password and access to a computer entrusted to perform remote configuration to cause a denial of service (service crash) via a NULL byte in a crafted configuration directive packet.

Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2015-5146
CVSS 3.0
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2015-5146 5.3

ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users with knowledge of the configuration password and access to a computer entrusted to perform remote configuration to cause a denial of service (service crash) via a NULL byte in a crafted configuration directive packet.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2015-5146
CVSS 3.0
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2015-0348 No score

Updated ntp packages fix security vulnerabilities

Updated ntp packages fix security vulnerability:

A flaw was found in the way ntpd processed certain remote configuration packets. An attacker could use a specially crafted package to cause ntpd to crash if the attacker had authenticated access to remote ntpd configuration (CVE-2015-5146).

It was found that ntpd could crash due to an uninitialized variable when processing malformed logconfig configuration commands, for example, ntpq -c ":config logconfig a" (CVE-2015-5194).

It was found that ntpd exits with a segmentation fault when a statistics type that was not enabled during compilation (e.g. timingstats) is referenced by the statistics or filegen configuration command, for example, ntpq -c ':config statistics timingstats' ntpq -c ':config filegen timingstats' (CVE-2015-5195).

It was found that the :config command can be used to set the pidfile and driftfile paths without any restrictions. A remote attacker could use this flaw to overwrite a file on the file system with a file containing the pid of the ntpd process (immediately) or the current estimated drift of the system clock (in hourly intervals). For example, ntpq -c ':config pidfile /tmp/ntp.pid' ntpq -c ':config driftfile /tmp/ntp.drift' (CVE-2015-5196).

It was discovered that sntp would hang in an infinite loop when a crafted NTP packet was received, related to the conversion of the precision value in the packet to double (CVE-2015-5219).

Record
MGASA-2015-0348
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUSN-2783-1 No score

ntp vulnerabilities

Aleksis Kauppinen discovered that NTP incorrectly handled certain remote config packets. In a non-default configuration, a remote authenticated attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2015-5146)

Miroslav Lichvar discovered that NTP incorrectly handled logconfig directives. In a non-default configuration, a remote authenticated attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2015-5194)

Miroslav Lichvar discovered that NTP incorrectly handled certain statistics types. In a non-default configuration, a remote authenticated attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2015-5195)

Miroslav Lichvar discovered that NTP incorrectly handled certain file paths. In a non-default configuration, a remote authenticated attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or overwrite certain files. (CVE-2015-5196, CVE-2015-7703)

Miroslav Lichvar discovered that NTP incorrectly handled certain packets. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to hang, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2015-5219)

Aanchal Malhotra, Isaac E. Cohen, and Sharon Goldberg discovered that NTP incorrectly handled restarting after hitting a panic threshold. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to alter the system time on clients. (CVE-2015-5300)

It was discovered that NTP incorrectly handled autokey data packets. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2015-7691, CVE-2015-7692, CVE-2015-7702)

It was discovered that NTP incorrectly handled memory when processing certain autokey messages. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to consume memory, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2015-7701)

Aanchal Malhotra, Isaac E. Cohen, and Sharon Goldberg discovered that NTP incorrectly handled rate limiting. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause clients to stop updating their clock. (CVE-2015-7704, CVE-2015-7705)

Yves Younan discovered that NTP incorrectly handled logfile and keyfile directives. In a non-default configuration, a remote authenticated attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to enter a loop, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2015-7850)

Yves Younan and Aleksander Nikolich discovered that NTP incorrectly handled ascii conversion. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2015-7852)

Yves Younan discovered that NTP incorrectly handled reference clock memory. A malicious refclock could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2015-7853)

John D "Doug" Birdwell discovered that NTP incorrectly handled decoding certain bogus values. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause NTP to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2015-7855)

Stephen Gray discovered that NTP incorrectly handled symmetric association authentication. A remote attacker could use this issue to possibly bypass authentication and alter the system clock. (CVE-2015-7871)

In the default installation, attackers would be isolated by the NTP AppArmor profile.

Record
USN-2783-1
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
ntp
Debian:11
before 1:4.2.8p3+dfsg-1
1:4.2.8p3+dfsg-1
ntp
Debian:6.0
before 1:4.2.6.p2+dfsg-1+deb6u4, plus listed versions
1:4.2.6.p2+dfsg-1
1:4.2.6.p2+dfsg-1+deb6u4
ntp
Debian:7
before 1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-2+deb7u6, plus listed versions
1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-21:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-2+deb7u11:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-2+deb7u21:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-2+deb7u31:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-2+deb7u41:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-2+deb7u5
1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-2+deb7u6
ntp
Debian:8
before 1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-7+deb8u1, plus listed versions
1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-7
1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-7+deb8u1
ntp
Mageia:4
before 4.2.6p5-15.6.mga4
4.2.6p5-15.6.mga4
ntp
Mageia:5
before 4.2.6p5-24.1.mga5
4.2.6p5-24.1.mga5
ntp
Ubuntu:14.04:LTS
before 1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-3ubuntu2.14.04.5, plus listed versions
1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-3ubuntu21:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-3ubuntu2.14.04.11:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-3ubuntu2.14.04.21:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-3ubuntu2.14.04.3
1:4.2.6.p5+dfsg-3ubuntu2.14.04.5

History

History
WhenChangedSources
2026-11-03aliasesEUVD
2026-11-02createdCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

References

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