Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2017-16854
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 Open Ticket Request System (OTRS) through 3.3.20, 4 through 4.0.26, 5 through 5.0.24, and 6 through 6.0.1, an attacker who is logged in as a customer can use the ticket search form to disclose internal article information of their customer tickets.
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 OTRS, an access control vulnerability in the ticket search functionality allows authenticated customer users to view internal article information from their tickets that should be restricted. The search form improperly exposes internal article data that customers should not have access to.
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
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 7.0= 8.0= 9.0>= 3.3.0, <= 3.3.20> 4.0.0, <= 4.0.26>= 5.0.0, <= 5.0.24>= 6.0.0, <= 6.0.1CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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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Identify OTRS versionLocate the OTRS version number in the system (typically accessible via admin panel, about page, or version file in the OTRS installation directory)Affected if The installed version falls within these ranges: 3.3.0 to 3.3.20, 4.0.1 to 4.0.26, 5.0.1 to 5.0.24, or 6.0.0 to 6.0.1
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Confirm customer user access to ticket searchVerify that customer users are permitted to use the ticket search feature in OTRS (check user role permissions or ACL configuration)Affected if Customer users have ticket search functionality enabled and can execute searches
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Verify article visibility settings for customer usersInspect the OTRS ACL or permission configuration that controls which article types customer users can view through search resultsAffected if The configuration allows customer users to view internal articles (articles marked as internal or restricted) via the search function
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Test search results for internal article exposureLog in as a customer user and perform a ticket search to observe whether internal article content is exposed in search results or accessible ticketsAffected if Internal article data that should be restricted is visible to customer users through the search functionality
A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable OTRS version within the specified ranges AND allows customer users to access ticket search, resulting in unauthorized exposure of internal article content.
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 OTRS to version 3.3.21, 4.0.27, 5.0.25, or 6.0.2 or later, which contain the proper authorization fixes for the ticket search function.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-16854 — 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-2017-16854 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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