CVE-2017-6401
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 issue was discovered in Veritas NetBackup before 8.0 and NetBackup Appliance before 3.0. Local arbitrary command execution can occur when using bpcd and bpnbat.
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 confidenceThis vulnerability in Veritas NetBackup (versions before 8.0) and NetBackup Appliance (versions before 3.0) allows local authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands via the bpcd and bpnbat services. The issue stems from improper validation or authorization in these daemons, enabling privilege escalation from a low-privilege user to execute commands with elevated privileges.
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<= 8.0<= 3.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 NetBackup installation and versionRun 'bp_getconfig' or check the version file at /usr/openv/netbackup/version on Linux/Unix systems. On Windows, check the registry key 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\VERITAS\NetBackup\CurrentVersion' or inspect 'C:\Program Files\VERITAS\NetBackup\version.txt'. On appliances, use the 'nbappversion' command or check via the appliance web console under Support > About.Affected if The installed version is 8.0 or earlier for NetBackup, or 3.0 or earlier for NetBackup Appliance.
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Determine if running NetBackup ApplianceRun 'hostname' and check if the system is an appliance model (such as 5200, 5300, 5400 series) or run 'nbappversion' command if available.Affected if The system is a NetBackup Appliance running version 3.0 or earlier.
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Verify bpcd service statusOn Linux/Unix, run 'ps -ef | grep bpcd' or 'nbppm -l' to list processes. On Windows, open Services console and check for 'NetBackup BPCD' service, or run 'bpps -a' to list all NetBackup processes.Affected if The bpcd (NetBackup Client daemon) service is running or enabled on the system.
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Verify bpnbat service statusOn Linux/Unix, run 'ps -ef | grep bpnbat' or check for bpnbat in the process list. On Windows, open Services console and check for 'NetBackup BPNBAT' service, or query with 'bpps -a'.Affected if The bpnbat (NetBackup Authentication Service) service is running or enabled on the system.
Your environment is affected if NetBackup version is 8.0 or earlier, or NetBackup Appliance version is 3.0 or earlier, AND either the bpcd or bpnbat service is running or 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.
From vendor dataUpgrade to NetBackup 8.0 or later / NetBackup Appliance 3.0 or later, or apply available vendor patches. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict access to bpcd and bpnbat services and monitor for suspicious local activity.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-6401 — 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-2017-6401 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data