Photon OsOperating system · VMware
CVE-2016-5333
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 · uneditedVMware Photos OS OVA 1.0 before 2016-08-14 has a default SSH public key in an authorized_keys file, which allows remote attackers to obtain SSH access by leveraging knowledge of the private key.
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 confidenceVMware Photos OS OVA 1.0 shipped with a default SSH public key embedded in the authorized_keys file. Attackers who obtain the corresponding private key (which may be publicly known or included with the OVA distribution) can remotely authenticate via SSH to any instance of this product.
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
Photon OsOperating system
<= 1.0CVSS 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
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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.
-
Identify Photon OS versionRun 'cat /etc/os-release' or 'rpm -q photon-release' to determine the installed Photon OS versionAffected if Version is 1.0 or earlier (the os-release file shows VERSION='1.0' or similar)
-
Locate SSH authorized_keys fileCheck for the presence of /root/.ssh/authorized_keys (for root user) or /home/*/.ssh/authorized_keys (for other users)Affected if The authorized_keys file exists on the system
-
Inspect default SSH public keyExamine the content of the authorized_keys file using 'cat /root/.ssh/authorized_keys' and compare the public key against known default keys for Photon OS 1.0Affected if The authorized_keys file contains a default, publicly-known SSH public key (the specific key that was shipped with the OVA distribution)
-
Verify SSH service statusCheck if the SSH daemon is running using 'systemctl status sshd' or 'ps -ef | grep sshd'Affected if SSH service is enabled and running, exposing the authentication vector
A system is affected if it runs Photon OS 1.0 or earlier, has an authorized_keys file containing the default SSH public key shipped with the OVA, and has SSH access enabled.
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.
dbcve · scopedReplace the default SSH public key in the authorized_keys file with a unique, newly-generated key pair on all affected systems, or update to the patched version released after 2016-08-14.
Photon OS 1.0 TP1 or later (post August 2016)
- Download and install a newer version of Photon OS (version 1.0 TP1 or later released after August 2016)
- If upgrading is not immediately possible, remove the default SSH public key from the /home/tdnf/.ssh/authorized_keys file (or /root/.ssh/authorized_keys)
- Regenerate new SSH key pairs for the system if needed
- Verify SSH access works with the new keys
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Photon Os
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-5333 — 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-2016-5333 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data