CVE-2016-2509
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 · uneditedThe password-sync feature on Belden Hirschmann Classic Platform switches L2B before 05.3.07 and L2E, L2P, L3E, and L3P before 09.0.06 sets an SNMP community to the same string as the administrator password, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information by sniffing the network.
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 password-sync feature on Belden Hirschmann Classic Platform switches automatically configures the SNMP community string to match the administrator password. This exposes the credentials in plaintext network traffic, allowing remote attackers to intercept sensitive authentication information via network sniffing.
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= 05.3.06<= 09.0.05all versionsCVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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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Identify firmware versionAccess the switch CLI or web interface and retrieve the firmware version. This is typically shown in the system information or startup banner, or via 'show version' command.Affected if The installed version is 05.3.06, or any version from 06.x.x through 09.0.05, or if the device is an L2b model running any version.
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Confirm device model is L2bCheck the hardware model identifier in the switch system information or via 'show system' command.Affected if The device is a Belden Hirschmann L2b switch (all versions of this model are affected).
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Locate SNMP configurationNavigate to SNMP settings in the switch web interface or use 'show snmp' in the CLI.Affected if The switch has SNMP community string configuration accessible.
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Check if password-sync feature is enabledIn the SNMP or security settings menu, look for an option labeled 'password-sync', 'password to SNMP sync', or similar. Check if it is set to 'enabled' or 'active'.Affected if The password-sync feature is enabled, causing the SNMP community string to automatically match the administrator password.
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Verify SNMP community string matches admin passwordCompare the configured SNMP community string (read/write) to the current administrator password. If they are identical, the vulnerability is present.Affected if The SNMP community string exactly matches the administrator login password.
A user is affected if their device runs Belden Hirschmann firmware versions 05.3.06 through 09.0.05 (or is an L2b model of any version) AND has the password-sync feature enabled, resulting in an SNMP community string identical to their admin password.
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 dataUpdate affected switches to L2B version 05.3.07 or later, or L2E/L2P/L3E/L3P version 09.0.06 or later. Alternatively, disable the password-sync feature and manually configure a distinct SNMP community string, preferably migrating to SNMPv3 with authentication and encryption.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-2509 — 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-2016-2509 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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