CVE-2017-16731
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 · uneditedAn Unprotected Transport of Credentials issue was discovered in ABB Ellipse 8.3 through Ellipse 8.9 released prior to December 2017 (including Ellipse Select). A vulnerability exists in the authentication of Ellipse to LDAP/AD using the LDAP protocol. An attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sniffing local network traffic, allowing the discovery of authentication credentials.
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 confidenceABB Ellipse versions 8.3 through 8.9 (including Ellipse Select) transmit LDAP/AD authentication credentials in cleartext without encryption when authenticating to directory services. An attacker with network sniffing capabilities on the local network can intercept these plaintext credentials.
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>= 8.3.0, <= 8.9.0CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/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.
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Identify Ellipse application versionAccess the Ellipse application administration interface or check the installed software version information. This is typically found in the About section, version info file, or system configuration screen.Affected if The installed version falls between 8.3.0 and 8.9.0 inclusive.
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Confirm LDAP/AD authentication is in useReview the Ellipse authentication configuration to determine if the system is configured to use LDAP or Active Directory for user authentication. Check authentication settings in the Ellipse administration console or configuration files.Affected if Ellipse is configured to authenticate users against an LDAP directory or Active Directory.
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Inspect LDAP connection security settingsExamine the LDAP client configuration in Ellipse to determine whether the connection to the directory service is using SSL/TLS encryption (LDAPS on port 636) or StartTLS. Check the LDAP server connection settings in the Ellipse configuration.Affected if LDAP connections are configured without SSL/TLS encryption (plaintext LDAP on port 389) and no StartTLS option is enabled.
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Verify network traffic for cleartext credentialsUse a network packet capture tool on the network segment between Ellipse and the LDAP/AD server to observe if LDAP bind requests containing plaintext passwords are being transmitted.Affected if LDAP authentication traffic is observed in cleartext on the wire.
You are affected if Ellipse version is between 8.3.0 and 8.9.0, LDAP/AD authentication is enabled, and the LDAP connection does not use SSL/TLS encryption.
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 dataEnable LDAPS (LDAP over SSL/TLS) or StartTLS for LDAP connections in Ellipse, and ensure the domain controllers are configured to accept encrypted LDAP traffic. Alternatively, protect the network segment with IPsec or VLAN isolation.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-16731 — 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-2017-16731 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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