CentOS 4 / 5 : ntp (CESA-2009:1648)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 43071

Synopsis

The remote CentOS host is missing a security update.

Description

An updated ntp package that fixes a security issue is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5.

This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to synchronize a computer's time with a referenced time source.

Robin Park and Dmitri Vinokurov discovered a flaw in the way ntpd handled certain malformed NTP packets. ntpd logged information about all such packets and replied with an NTP packet that was treated as malformed when received by another ntpd. A remote attacker could use this flaw to create an NTP packet reply loop between two ntpd servers via a malformed packet with a spoofed source IP address and port, causing ntpd on those servers to use excessive amounts of CPU time and fill disk space with log messages. (CVE-2009-3563)

All ntp users are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which contains a backported patch to resolve this issue. After installing the update, the ntpd daemon will restart automatically.

Solution

Update the affected ntp package.

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?96d8db42

http://www.nessus.org/u?c315a515

http://www.nessus.org/u?6dc67174

http://www.nessus.org/u?5a95f2d9

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 43071

File Name: centos_RHSA-2009-1648.nasl

Version: 1.18

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 12/9/2009

Updated: 1/4/2021

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.0

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.4

Temporal Score: 4.7

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:ntp, cpe:/o:centos:centos:4, cpe:/o:centos:centos:5

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/CentOS/release, Host/CentOS/rpm-list

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 12/19/2009

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/9/2009

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2009-3563

RHSA: 2009:1648