CVE-2015-5146
ntpd in ntp before 4.2.8p3 with remote configuration enabled allows remote authenticated users...
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
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 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 3.5 Low
AV: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 Medium
CVSS: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 Medium
CVSS: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 Medium
CVSS: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 Medium
CVSS: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
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
ntpDebian:11 |
before 1:4.2.8p3+dfsg-1 | 1:4.2.8p3+dfsg-1 |
ntpDebian: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 |
ntpDebian: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 |
ntpDebian: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 |
ntpMageia:4 |
before 4.2.6p5-15.6.mga4 | 4.2.6p5-15.6.mga4 |
ntpMageia:5 |
before 4.2.6p5-24.1.mga5 | 4.2.6p5-24.1.mga5 |
ntpUbuntu: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
| When | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-03 | aliases | EUVD |
| 2026-11-02 | created | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
References
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1238136
securityfocus.com/bid/75589
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201509-01
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-November/170926.html
securitytracker.com/id/1034168
debian.org/security/2015/dsa-3388
Show 31 moreShow less
bugs.ntp.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2853
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-October/169167.html
lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-September/166992.html
support.ntp.org/bin/view/Main/SecurityNotice
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180731-0003
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-5146
github.com/advisories/GHSA-8463-8xmw-64wf
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2015-5146
advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2015-0348.html
bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16322
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/08/25/3
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-5146
ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-2783-1
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-5146
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-5194
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-5195
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-5196
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-5219
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-5300
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7691
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7692
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7701
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7702
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7703
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7704
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7705
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7850
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7852
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7853
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7855
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7871