Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical
CVE-2017-10689
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 · uneditedIn previous versions of Puppet Agent it was possible to install a module with world writable permissions. Puppet Agent 5.3.4 and 1.10.10 included a fix to this vulnerability.
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 · moderate confidenceIn older versions of Puppet Agent, the module installation process created files with world-writable permissions (e.g., 0777), potentially allowing local unprivileged users to modify installed modules and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Puppet process.
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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 14.04
SatelliteApplication
= 6.4< 5.3.4>= 1.10.0, < 1.10.10< 2016.4.10>= 2017.1.0, < 2017.3.4CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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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Check Puppet Agent versionRun `puppet --version` to get the installed Puppet version, or query the package manager: `dpkg -l puppet-agent` (Ubuntu) or `rpm -q puppet-agent` (RHEL/Satellite)Affected if The version is 1.10.0 or later but below 1.10.10, OR it is 5.0.0 or later but below 5.3.4
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Identify module installation directoryRun `puppet config print modulepath` to find the default module directory pathAffected if A modulepath is configured and modules have been installed there
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Check file permissions on installed modulesList file permissions in the module directory: `ls -la <modulepath>` and specifically look for directories or files with permissions 0777 (drwxrwxrwx)Affected if Any files or directories within the module path show world-writable permissions (mode 0777)
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Check recently created module filesRun `find <modulepath> -perm -002 -type f` to find all world-writable files in the module treeAffected if Any files are returned by this command, indicating overly permissive access rights
The environment is affected if Puppet Agent version is 1.10.0 <= version < 1.10.10 or 5.0.0 <= version < 5.3.4 AND world-writable files exist in the Puppet module directory.
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 data1.10.105.3.42016.4.10
Upgrade Puppet Agent to version 5.3.4 or 1.10.10 or later, which enforces proper file permissions during module installation.
Fix this in Ubuntu Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $2,464.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-10689 — 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-2017-10689 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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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
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