# CVE-2016-1567: Auth bypass in n/a

> Remote attackers can impersonate NTP peers by exploiting a skeleton key vulnerability in chrony, bypassing authentication checks.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 26 Jan 2016
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2016-1567, DLA-414-1, DLA-742-1, GHSA-vwxj-hm98-qj7v, MGASA-2016-0038, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-1567

## What is CVE-2016-1567?

CVE-2016-1567 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in n/a, published on 26 Jan 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

chrony before 1.31.2 and 2.x before 2.2.1 do not verify peer associations of symmetric keys when authenticating packets, which might allow remote attackers to conduct impersonation attacks via an arbitrary trusted key, aka a "skeleton key."

Weakness: CWE-254

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-1567?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Tuxfamily Chrony.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-1567?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2016-1567 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-1567 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2015-1853](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1853/): Denial of service in chrony (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2012-4502](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4502/): Integer overflow in n/a (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2012-4503](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-4503/): Information disclosure in n/a (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2010-0292](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-0292/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2010-0293](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-0293/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 5.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-1567 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-1567 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in n/a, published on 26 Jan 2016. 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-2016-1567 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2016-1567/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1567/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-1567
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-1567
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-1567

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1567/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.