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OpennmsApplication

CVE-2015-7856

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-10-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
OpenNMS has a default password of rtc for the rtc account, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain access by leveraging knowledge of the credentials.

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

OpenNMS contains a default credential vulnerability where the rtc account uses a well-known default password of 'rtc'. This allows remote attackers with knowledge of these credentials to authenticate to the OpenNMS application and potentially access sensitive monitoring data or execute commands.

MitigationImmediately change the default password for the rtc account to a strong, unique password using OpenNMS administrative interface, or disable the account if not required for operations. Consider reviewing access logs for any unauthorized access using these default credentials.

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
OpennmsApplication
Affected:all versions

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. Confirm OpenNMS is installed
    Look for the OpenNMS process running on the system (ps aux | grep opennms) or check for the installation directory typically at /opt/opennms or /usr/share/opennms
    Affected if OpenNMS is found running on the system, indicating exposure to this vulnerability
  2. Check if rtc account exists and is enabled
    Examine the OpenNMS user configuration file, typically located at $OPENNMS_HOME/etc/users.xml or $OPENNMS_HOME/etc/rtc.xml, for an entry for the 'rtc' user account
    Affected if The rtc user account exists and is marked as active or enabled in the configuration
  3. Verify rtc account password is still default
    Inspect the password field for the rtc account in users.xml; the default password 'rtc' will typically be stored as a known hash or in plaintext depending on configuration
    Affected if The rtc account password matches the default value 'rtc' or the associated default hash is present
  4. Review access logs for rtc account usage
    Check OpenNMS access logs in $OPENNMS_HOME/logs/ for login events involving the rtc account, looking for successful authentications from unexpected IP addresses
    Affected if There are any successful or attempted logins using the rtc account, especially from unknown IP addresses indicating potential exploitation

If OpenNMS is installed, the rtc account is enabled, and the default password 'rtc' has not been changed, the environment is vulnerable to unauthorized access via this CVE.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Immediately change the default password for the rtc account to a strong, unique password using OpenNMS administrative interface, or disable the account if not required for operations. Consider reviewing access logs for any unauthorized access using these default credentials.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence
  1. Log in to the OpenNMS web interface or access the server directly with administrative credentials
  2. Navigate to the user management section (typically found under 'Admin' > 'Manage Users' or similar)
  3. Locate the 'rtc' user account in the list of users
  4. Change the default password 'rtc' to a strong, unique password that complies with your organization's password policy
  5. Ensure the new password is at least 12 characters long and includes a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters
  6. If the rtc account is not required for legitimate operations, consider disabling or removing the account entirely
  7. Verify the change by attempting to log in with the old credentials (which should fail) and then with the new credentials
  8. Document the new password in a secure password manager following your organization's credential management procedures
Caveat Changing this password will not cause functional breaking changes if the rtc account is not used by automated systems; if used, update those systems with the new credentials

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Opennms Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2015-7856 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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