CVE-2016-0904
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 · uneditedAvamar Data Store (ADS) and Avamar Virtual Edition (AVE) in EMC Avamar Server before 7.3.0-233 use the same encryption key across different customers' installations, which allows remote attackers to defeat cryptographic protection mechanisms and obtain sensitive client-server traffic information by leveraging knowledge of this key from another installation.
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 confidenceEMC Avamar Server (both ADS and AVE) versions before 7.3.0-233 use a static, identical encryption key across all customer installations. An attacker who obtains this key from any one installation can decrypt client-server traffic from any other Avamar deployment using the same key, completely defeating the encryption protecting sensitive backup data in transit.
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<= 7.3.0CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L
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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Identify Avamar Server installation versionRun the command 'avmaint version' or check the version file at /usr/local/avamar/etc/avamar.ini to determine the exact installed version of Avamar Server.Affected if The installed version is 7.3.0 or any version earlier than 7.3.0-233.
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Confirm Avamar product variant (ADS or AVE)Run 'avmaint info' or check the product configuration to determine whether the installation is Avamar Data Store (ADS) or Avamar Virtual Edition (AVE).Affected if The product is either EMC Avamar Server ADS or AVE running version 7.3.0 or earlier.
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Examine encryption key configurationLocate and inspect the encryption key files in the Avamar configuration directory, typically found under /usr/local/avamar/var or /usr/local/avamar/etc/ directory. Look for files containing encryption key definitions or references.Affected if The encryption key files contain a static, default key value that is identical across installations rather than a unique per-installation key.
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Verify client-server communication encryption settingsCheck the client-server communication configuration files or run diagnostic commands to inspect which encryption key is being used for backup traffic between Avamar clients and the server.Affected if The communication is using the default static encryption key rather than a unique key generated for this specific installation.
A user is affected if their Avamar Server installation (either ADS or AVE) is version 7.3.0 or earlier and is using the default static encryption key instead of a unique per-installation key.
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 dataUpgrade Avamar Server to version 7.3.0-233 or later, which implements unique per-installation encryption keys. After upgrade, regenerate all encryption keys and verify that client-server communications are using the new unique keys.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-0904 — 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-2016-0904 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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