CVE-2017-6404
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 7.7 and NetBackup Appliance Before 2.7. There are world-writable log files, allowing destruction or spoofing of log data.
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 confidenceVeritas NetBackup versions before 7.7 and NetBackup Appliance versions before 2.7 create log files with world-writable permissions (mode 777), allowing any local user to read, modify, or delete log entries. This compromises audit trail integrity and could enable log poisoning or destruction of evidence of malicious activity.
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<= 7.6.1.2<= 2.6.1.2CVSS 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 NetBackup versionRun 'bpgetconfig' or check /usr/openv/netbackup/version on the server to determine the installed NetBackup version. For appliances, use the appliance CLI: 'nbatcli -get_version' or check the Appliance Management Console.Affected if The version is 7.6.1.2 or earlier, or any version before 7.7 (for NetBackup), or 2.6.1.2 or earlier, or any version before 2.7 (for NetBackup Appliance).
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Locate NetBackup log filesIdentify log directories in the NetBackup installation, typically found under /usr/openv/netbackup/logs/ or /opt/VRTSnb/logs/ for appliances. Check the bp.conf configuration file for custom log paths.Affected if Log directories or log files exist in the NetBackup installation.
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Inspect log file permissionsUse 'ls -la' on the log files and directories. Run 'stat' on specific log files to view their permission bits in octal format (e.g., stat -c '%a %n' /path/to/logfile).Affected if Any log file shows permissions set to 777 (octal) or displays 'rwxrwxrwx' indicating world-writable access.
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Check for world-writable log files across all log directoriesExecute a recursive permission check such as 'find /usr/openv -name "*.log" -perm -002 -ls' or 'find /opt/VRTSnb -name "*.log" -perm -002 -ls' to list all world-writable log files.Affected if The find command returns any log files with world-writable permissions present in the output.
You are affected if your NetBackup version is 7.6.1.2 or earlier (or before 7.7) or your NetBackup Appliance version is 2.6.1.2 or earlier (or before 2.7), AND any log files in your NetBackup installation have 777 (world-writable) permissions.
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 dataRestrict log file permissions to remove world-writable access (e.g., 640 or 644), ensure log files are owned by the application service account, and verify that logging functionality continues to operate correctly after permission changes.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-6404 — 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-2017-6404 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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