ntp: ntpd reference clock impersonation
Published Jan 27, 2017
3.7
LOWCVSS 3.0
EPSS 2.23%
Description
ntpd in NTP 4.2.8p3 and NTPsec a5fb34b9cc89b92a8fef2f459004865c93bb7f92 relies on the underlying operating system to protect it from requests that impersonate reference clocks. Because reference clocks are treated like other peers and stored in the same structure, any packet with a source ip address of a reference clock (127.127.1.1 for example) that reaches the receive() function will match that reference clock's peer record and will be treated as a trusted peer. Any system that lacks the typical martian packet filtering which would block these packets is in danger of having its time controlled by an attacker.
Affected products
-
- Version 4.2.8p3StatusaffectedConstraints-
- Version 4.2.8p4StatusaffectedConstraints-
- Version
-
- Version StatusaffectedConstraints-
- Version StatusaffectedConstraints-
- Version
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NTP Project | NTP | n/a |
| |||||||||
| NTPsec Project | NTPSec | n/a |
|
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
ntp
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
ntp
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
ntp
Not affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | ntp | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | ntp | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | ntp | Not affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
This issue did not affect the versions of ntp as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6, and 7 as the Linux kernel drops packets from 127.0.0.0/8, mitigating this issue.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.1 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2022–2026- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (10 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 2.23% (0.02233) | 82.14th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 2.23% (0.02233) | 80.41th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 0.64% (0.00643) | 68.90th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 0.45% (0.00454) | 76.02th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Feb 8, 2024 | 0.45% (0.00454) | 74.46th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.45% (0.00454) | 71.30th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 55.18th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Sep 17, 2022 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 53.57th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 51.54th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 1.11% (0.01108) | 29.61th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
References (13)
- http://support.ntp.org/bin/view/Main/SecurityNotice#April_2016_NTP_4_2_8p7_Security
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinapr2016-2952098.html x_refsource_CONFIRMThird Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/88219 vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1035705 vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACK
- http://www.talosintel.com/reports/TALOS-2016-0132/
- http://www.talosintelligence.com/reports/TALOS-2016-0132/ x_refsource_MISCThird Party Advisory
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-1551 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1331465 Issue Tracking
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-1551
- https://security.FreeBSD.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-16:16.ntp.asc vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FREEBSD
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201607-15 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOO
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20171004-0002/ x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-1551
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.