# CVE-2016-2787: Security feature bypass in n/a

> Remote attackers can prevent Puppet runs from triggering by bypassing certificate validation on the broker node, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 Feb 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-frr9-9gjp-4944

## What is CVE-2016-2787?

CVE-2016-2787 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Puppet Puppet Enterprise, published on 13 Feb 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Puppet Communications Protocol in Puppet Enterprise 2015.3.x before 2015.3.3 does not properly validate certificates for the broker node, which allows remote non-whitelisted hosts to prevent runs from triggering via unspecified vectors.

Weakness: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-2787?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Puppet Puppet Enterprise, Puppetlabs Puppet Enterprise.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-2787?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-2787 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-2787 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-2787 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Puppet Puppet Enterprise

- [CVE-2023-2530](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2530/): Privilege escalation in Puppet Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-10694](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10694/): Hardcoded credentials in Puppet Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-11749](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-11749/): Information disclosure in Puppet Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-27020](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-27020/): Other in Puppet Enterprise (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2015-5686](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5686/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-2787 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-2787 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Puppet Puppet Enterprise, published on 13 Feb 2017. 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-2016-2787 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-2016-2787/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-2787/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-2787
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-2787
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-2787

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-2787/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.