SatelliteApplication · Redhat
CVE-2016-4996
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 · unediteddiscovery-debug in Foreman before 6.2 when the ssh service has been enabled on discovered nodes displays the root password in plaintext in the system journal when used to log in, which allows local users with access to the system journal to obtain the root password by reading the system journal, or by clicking Logs on the console.
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 discovery-debug feature in Foreman before version 6.2 logs the root password in plaintext to the system journal when SSH service is enabled on discovered nodes. Local users with access to the system journal or the console Logs feature can read the plaintext root password.
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
SatelliteApplication
= 6.3CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 Foreman or Red Hat Satellite versionRun 'foreman-installer --version' or check the Satellite web UI under Administer > Settings > General to identify the installed Foreman/Satellite versionAffected if Version is before 6.2 (or if using Red Hat Satellite 6.3, it is affected)
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Verify discovery-debug feature is enabledCheck the Foreman/Satellite settings for the discovery plugin: look for 'discovery' or 'foreman_discovery' plugin status in the web UI under Hosts > Discovery or via 'hammer discovery list'Affected if The discovery feature is active and provisioning discovered hosts
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Confirm SSH service is enabled on discovered nodesInspect the default provisioning template used for discovered hosts - check if the 'SSH service' or 'osist' setting is enabled in the provisioning templates (Hosts > Provisioning Templates)Affected if SSH service is configured to start on discovered nodes during provisioning
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Inspect system journal for plaintext passwordsRun 'journalctl -b' or 'journalctl -u foreman' and search for strings resembling root passwords or look for the discovery debug output in /var/log/foreman/production.logAffected if Plaintext root passwords appear in journal logs or Foreman production logs
A system is affected if it runs Foreman before version 6.2 (or Red Hat Satellite 6.3) with the discovery feature enabled and SSH service configured on discovered nodes, allowing plaintext root passwords to appear in system logs.
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 Foreman to version 6.2 or later to fix the plaintext password logging. Additionally, restrict access to the system journal and console logs to authorized personnel only.
Fix this in Satellite
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-4996 — 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-2016-4996 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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