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NagiosApplication

CVE-2013-7205

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-01-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.0.2 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Off-by-one error in the process_cgivars function in contrib/daemonchk.c in Nagios Core 3.5.1, 4.0.2, and earlier allows remote authenticated users to obtain sensitive information from process memory or cause a denial of service (crash) via a long string in the last key value in the variable list, which triggers a heap-based buffer over-read.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

An off-by-one error in the process_cgivars function in Nagios Core's contrib/daemonchk.c allows remote authenticated users to trigger a heap-based buffer over-read by supplying an excessively long string in the last key value of the variable list. This can lead to sensitive information disclosure from process memory or cause a denial of service via crash.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of Nagios Core (3.5.2, 4.0.3, or later). If upgrading is not immediately feasible, limit access to the daemonchk functionality to trusted authenticated users only and monitor for anomalous behavior.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
NagiosApplication
Affected:<= 4.0.2= 3.0= 3.0.1= 3.0.2= 3.0.3= 3.0.4= 3.0.5= 3.0.6= 3.1.0= 3.1.1= 3.1.2= 3.2.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Nagios Core version
    Run 'nagios --version' or check the version file in your Nagios installation directory (commonly /usr/local/nagios/etc/nagios.cfg or the RPM package version)
    Affected if The installed version is 3.0 through 3.2.0 (any of 3.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.0.3, 3.0.4, 3.0.5, 3.0.6, 3.1.0, 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.2.0) or any version 4.0.2 or earlier
  2. Confirm daemonchk functionality is present
    Check if the contrib/daemonchk.c source file exists in your Nagios installation, or if the compiled daemonchk utility is present in the sbin or bin directory
    Affected if The daemonchk utility or its source exists in the Nagios contrib directory and is accessible to authenticated users
  3. Verify CGI interface is enabled
    Check if the Nagios CGI web interface is enabled and accessible - look for status.cgi, history.cgi, or other CGI executables in the sbin directory (commonly /usr/local/nagios/sbin/)
    Affected if The CGI interface is enabled and accessible via the web server to authenticated users, as process_cgivars processes CGI variable input
  4. Check remote authentication status
    Review your web server and Nagios authentication configuration (check nagios.conf and .htaccess or authentication settings in cgi.cfg) to determine if remote user authentication is required for CGI scripts
    Affected if Remote authenticated users can access the Nagios CGI interface, as the vulnerability requires a remote authenticated user to supply the malformed input
  5. Inspect CGI parameter handling logs
    Review web server access logs and Nagios logs for requests to CGI scripts with unusually long parameter values, particularly in the last key-value pair of CGI variable strings
    Affected if Unusually long string values appear in CGI variable inputs in web server logs, indicating potential exploitation attempts

You are affected if your Nagios Core version falls within 3.0-3.2.0 or 4.0.2 and earlier, the daemonchk functionality is present, and the CGI interface is accessible to remote authenticated users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.0.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of Nagios Core (3.5.2, 4.0.3, or later). If upgrading is not immediately feasible, limit access to the daemonchk functionality to trusted authenticated users only and monitor for anomalous behavior.

Fix this in Nagios Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-7205 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data