# CVE-2011-3872: Security feature bypass in n/a

> Remote attackers can spoof a Puppet master via MITM attacks due to improper certificate validation, compromising agent communications.

- **Severity:** Low 2.6 (`AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 Oct 2011
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2011-3872, DSA-2352-1, GHSA-494g-9grq-m629

## What is CVE-2011-3872?

CVE-2011-3872 is a low-severity vulnerability in Puppet Puppet Enterprise, published on 27 Oct 2011. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Puppet 2.6.x before 2.6.12 and 2.7.x before 2.7.6, and Puppet Enterprise (PE) Users 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 before 1.2.4, when signing an agent certificate, adds the Puppet master's certdnsnames values to the X.509 Subject Alternative Name field of the certificate, which allows remote attackers to spoof a Puppet master via a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack against an agent that uses an alternate DNS name for the master, aka "AltNames Vulnerability."

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-3872?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Puppet Puppet, Puppet Puppet Enterprise, Puppetlabs Puppet, Puppetlabs Puppet Enterprise Users.

## How do I fix CVE-2011-3872?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2011-3872 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-3872 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Puppet Module to help fix and migrate a Puppet deployment (CVE-2011-3872) (github_poc): https://github.com/puppetlabs-toy-chest/puppetlabs-cve20113872

## Other vulnerabilities in Puppet Puppet Enterprise

- [CVE-2016-2785](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-2785/): Puppet Improper Access Control (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-27021](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-27021/): SQL injection in Puppet DB (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2018-6513](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6513/): Privilege escalation in Puppet Enterprise and Puppet Agent (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2018-6514](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6514/): Privilege escalation in Puppet Agent (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2018-6515](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6515/): Code injection in Puppet Agent (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2011-3872 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2011-3872 is a low-severity vulnerability in Puppet Puppet Enterprise, published on 27 Oct 2011. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-3872 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Puppet Puppet Enterprise. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-3872/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-3872/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-3872
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-3872
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2011-3872

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-3872/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.