CVE-2015-2704
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 · uneditedrealmd allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary configurations in to sssd.conf and smb.conf via a newline character in an LDAP response.
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 confidenceThe realmd service does not properly sanitize input from LDAP responses before writing to sssd.conf and smb.conf configuration files. A remote attacker who can intercept or manipulate LDAP responses (e.g., via man-in-the-middle or compromised LDAP server) can inject arbitrary configuration directives using newline characters in the response data.
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<= 15.2CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if realmd is installedRun: rpm -q realmd (RHEL/CentOS) or dpkg -l realmd (Debian/Ubuntu)Affected if realmd is installed and actively managing authentication
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Verify the realmd versionRun: rpm -q --info realmd or dpkg -s realbd and look at the Version fieldAffected if version is 15.2 or lower
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Identify if LDAP-backed identity management is in useCheck for existence of /etc/sssd/sssd.conf and /etc/samba/smb.conf files; these are the configuration files that realmd writes to when managing LDAP/AD integrationAffected if sssd.conf or smb.conf exist and are managed by realdb (realm list command shows active realm)
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Inspect sssd.conf for injected directivesRead /etc/sssd/sssd.conf and look for configuration sections or directives that appear unrelated to your legitimate domain join settings, especially entries containing unusual service names, file paths, or multiple consecutive blank lines that may indicate injected contentAffected if sssd.conf contains unexpected configuration directives or sections you did not intentionally configure
You are affected if realmd version 15.2 or lower is installed and actively managing LDAP or Active Directory integration via sssd.conf or smb.conf files, particularly in environments where the LDAP server communication could be intercepted or manipulated.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataEnsure all LDAP communication uses TLS/SSL with mutual authentication, restrict network access to prevent MITM attacks, and monitor configuration files for unauthorized changes. Upgrade realmd to the latest version which includes proper input validation.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-2704 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-2704 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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