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NiagaraApplication · Tridium

CVE-2017-16748

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-08-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.4 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
An attacker can log into the local Niagara platform (Niagara AX Framework Versions 3.8 and prior or Niagara 4 Framework Versions 4.4 and prior) using a disabled account name and a blank password, granting the attacker administrator access to the Niagara system.

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 confidence

The Niagara AX and Niagara 4 platforms contain an authentication bypass vulnerability where disabled user accounts can be accessed using a blank password, granting the attacker full administrator privileges to the system.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patches or upgrade to patched versions of Niagara AX (3.8+) and Niagara 4 (4.4+) to remediate the authentication bypass, and review all disabled accounts to ensure they cannot be accessed.

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
NiagaraApplication
Affected:<= 4.4
Niagara Ax FrameworkApplication
Affected:<= 3.8

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine Niagara platform version
    Access the Niagara administration interface or check the installation directory for version metadata. In the Niagara Workbench, navigate to Help > About or check the 'version.properties' file in the Niagara installation directory.
    Affected if The version is Niagara 4.4 or lower, or Niagara AX 3.8 or lower.
  2. Identify disabled user accounts
    In Niagara Workbench, open the 'Users' or 'User Manager' station. Look for user accounts with a disabled or inactive status indicator. These accounts should have their 'Enabled' or 'Active' property set to false.
    Affected if There are disabled user accounts present in the user management system.
  3. Test blank password authentication on disabled accounts
    Attempt to authenticate to the Niagara web interface or station using a disabled username with an empty/blank password field. This should fail in a patched system but may succeed in vulnerable versions.
    Affected if A disabled account can be accessed using a blank password, granting full administrator access.
  4. Review authentication configuration
    In Niagara Workbench, navigate to the 'Security' or 'Authentication' configuration section. Check the 'Password' or 'Authentication' settings for the platform to see if blank passwords are being rejected.
    Affected if Blank password authentication is permitted for disabled accounts or no explicit rejection of blank passwords for disabled accounts is configured.

A system is affected if it runs Niagara 4.4 or earlier or Niagara AX 3.8 or earlier AND has disabled user accounts that can be accessed using a blank password.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied patches or upgrade to patched versions of Niagara AX (3.8+) and Niagara 4 (4.4+) to remediate the authentication bypass, and review all disabled accounts to ensure they cannot be accessed.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Niagara AX Framework > 3.8, Niagara > 4.4 (contact Tridium for exact patched release numbers)

  1. Identify the current Niagara AX Framework or Niagara version running in your environment
  2. Consult Tridium's official release notes or contact Tridium technical support to obtain the specific patched version for your product line
  3. Plan upgrade during a maintenance window to minimize operational impact
  4. Back up the Niagara station and configuration files before performing the upgrade
  5. Upgrade Niagara AX Framework to a version greater than 3.8 (e.g., latest stable 3.9+ release)
  6. Upgrade Niagara to a version greater than 4.4 (e.g., latest stable 4.5+ release)
  7. After upgrade, verify that disabled accounts can no longer authenticate with blank passwords
  8. Confirm administrator access is properly restricted to enabled, valid credentials
Caveat Review release notes for any API or configuration changes between versions; test integrations before production deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Niagara Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-16748 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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