Western Digital ArkeiaApplication · Arkeia

CVE-2015-7709

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-10-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 11.0.12 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
High EPSS Public exploit 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
The arkeiad daemon in the Arkeia Backup Agent in Western Digital Arkeia 11.0.12 and earlier allows remote attackers to bypass authentication and execute arbitrary commands via a series of crafted requests involving the ARKFS_EXEC_CMD operation.

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

The Arkeiad daemon in Arkeia Backup Agent versions 11.0.12 and earlier contains an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands through crafted requests using the ARKFS_EXEC_CMD operation. The vulnerability stems from a flaw in the authentication mechanism that can be circumvented, enabling unauthenticated command execution with daemon privileges.

MitigationApply vendor patches or upgrade to a version beyond 11.0.12. If no patch is available, consider network segmentation to restrict access to the Arkeiad daemon port and monitor for suspicious ARKFS_EXEC_CMD activity.

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
Western Digital ArkeiaApplication
Affected:<= 11.0.12

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
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

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

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. Verify Arkeia Backup Agent installation
    Check if Arkeia Backup Agent software is installed on the system by querying installed packages or checking common installation directories (e.g., /usr/local/arkeia, /opt/arkeia, or Windows Program Files location)
    Affected if Arkeia Backup Agent software is found on the system
  2. Identify installed Arkeia version
    Locate and read the Arkeia version information file or use the command line tool (such as 'arkeia --version' or checking the About dialog) to determine the exact version number
    Affected if The installed version is 11.0.12 or any earlier version (e.g., 11.0.x, 10.x, etc.)
  3. Confirm Arkeiad daemon is running
    Check for the 'arkeiad' process using system process listing commands (ps aux on Linux/Unix, Task Manager on Windows) or check if the daemon listens on its configured port
    Affected if The Arkeiad daemon process is actively running on the system
  4. Determine daemon network exposure
    Review firewall rules, network configuration, or netstat/ss output to identify which network interfaces and IP addresses the Arkeiad daemon port is bound to and accessible from
    Affected if The Arkeiad daemon port is bound to a non-localhost interface or is reachable from external network segments
  5. Inspect logs for ARKFS_EXEC_CMD activity
    Examine Arkeia daemon log files for entries containing 'ARKFS_EXEC_CMD' or command execution operations, particularly those originating from unauthenticated or unexpected sources
    Affected if Log entries show ARKFS_EXEC_CMD operations without proper authentication credentials or from unexpected source IP addresses

If Arkeia Backup Agent version 11.0.12 or earlier is installed and the Arkeiad daemon is network-accessible, the environment is affected by this authentication bypass vulnerability.

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 11.0.12
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patches or upgrade to a version beyond 11.0.12. If no patch is available, consider network segmentation to restrict access to the Arkeiad daemon port and monitor for suspicious ARKFS_EXEC_CMD activity.

Fix this in Western Digital Arkeia Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,720
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,352.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2015-7709 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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