GHSA-37xq-q42p-rv3p ntpd has Dependency on Vulnerable Third-Party Component
An attacker can cause excessive CPU usage on NTP clients using NTS by triggering expensive key validation via a vulnerable dependency.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is GHSA-37xq-q42p-rv3p?
GHSA-37xq-q42p-rv3p is a denial of service vulnerability in ntpd, published on 24 Aug 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
During startup, an attacker that can man-in-the-middle traffic to and from NTS key exchange servers can trigger a very expensive key validation process due to a vulnerability in webpki.
Impact
This vulnerability can lead to excessive cpu usage on startup on clients configured to use NTS
Patches
Affected users are recommended to upgrade to version 0.3.7
References
See also https://github.com/rustsec/advisory-db/blob/main/crates/rustls-webpki/RUSTSEC-2023-0053.md
Which versions are affected by GHSA-37xq-q42p-rv3p?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including ntpd.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
ntpd crates.io | All versions | 0.3.7 |
ntpd crates.io | All versions | 0.3.7 |
How do I fix GHSA-37xq-q42p-rv3p?
Upgrade ntpd to 0.3.7 or later.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is GHSA-37xq-q42p-rv3p being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of GHSA-37xq-q42p-rv3p in the wild and no public exploit code.