Ntp
CVE-2015-7978
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource consumption limits
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 42.55%. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could cause denial of service by exhausting system resources by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
NTP before 4.2.8p6 and 4.3.0 before 4.3.90 allows a remote attackers to cause a denial of service (stack exhaustion) via an ntpdc relist command, which triggers recursive traversal of the restriction. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Epss exploitation probability 42.5% and no vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Implement rate limiting, set resource quotas, validate input sizes, use timeouts.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400), which allows attackers to cause denial of service by exhausting system resources. NTP before 4.2.8p6 and 4.3.0 before 4.3.90 allows a remote attackers to cause a denial of service (stack exhaustion) via an ntpdc relist command, which triggers recursive traversal of the restriction list. Affected products include: Ntp. Version information: before 4.2.8.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionCVE.org
NTP before 4.2.8p6 and 4.3.0 before 4.3.90 allows a remote attackers to cause a denial of service (stack exhaustion) via an ntpdc relist command, which triggers recursive traversal of the restriction list.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org
Crypto-NAK packets in ntpd in NTP 4.2.x before 4.2.8p4, and 4.3.x before 4.3.77 allows remote attackers to bypass authen
The monlist feature in ntp_request.c in ntpd in NTP before 4.2.7p26 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service
The read_mru_list function in NTP before 4.2.8p9 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a craf
The decodenetnum function in ntpd in NTP 4.2.x before 4.2.8p4, and 4.3.x before 4.3.77 allows remote attackers to cause
Multiple stack-based buffer overflows in ntpd in NTP before 4.2.8 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a
ntpd in NTP before 4.2.8p8 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via a crypto-NAK packet.
util/ntp-keygen.c in ntp-keygen in NTP before 4.2.7p230 uses a weak RNG seed, which makes it easier for remote attackers
The config_auth function in ntpd in NTP before 4.2.7p11, when an auth key is not configured, improperly generates a key,
The datalen parameter in the refclock driver in NTP 4.2.x before 4.2.8p4, and 4.3.x before 4.3.77 allows remote attacker
The rate limiting feature in NTP 4.x before 4.2.8p4 and 4.3.x before 4.3.77 allows remote attackers to have unspecified
The panic_gate check in NTP before 4.2.8p5 is only re-enabled after the first change to the system clock that was greate
The receive function in ntp_proto.c in ntpd in NTP before 4.2.8 continues to execute after detecting a certain authentic
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB