CVE-2017-9854
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 SMA Solar Technology products. By sniffing for specific packets on the localhost, plaintext passwords can be obtained as they are typed into Sunny Explorer by the user. These passwords can then be used to compromise the overall device. NOTE: the vendor reports that exploitation likelihood is low because these packets are usually sent only once during installation. Also, only Sunny Boy TLST-21 and TL-21 and Sunny Tripower TL-10 and TL-30 could potentially be affected
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 confidenceSMA Solar inverters (Sunny Boy TLST-21, TL-21, Sunny Tripower TL-10, TL-30) transmit user passwords in plaintext over localhost when users enter them in Sunny Explorer software. Attackers on the local network can sniff these packets and capture credentials, which can then be used to fully compromise the device.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify affected SMA inverter models on your networkCheck your network inventory or physically inspect inverters for model numbers: Sunny Boy 3600, Sunny Boy 5000, Sunny Tripower Core1, Sunny Tripower 15000tl, Sunny Tripower 20000tl, Sunny Tripower 25000tl, Sunny Tripower 5000tl, Sunny Tripower 12000tlAffected if Any of these models are present on your network
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Determine if Sunny Explorer software is usedCheck installed programs on workstations for Sunny Explorer software or look for its executable on systems used for inverter managementAffected if Sunny Explorer software is installed and used to manage the inverters
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Capture network traffic during authenticationUse a packet capture tool (such as Wireshark or tcpdump) on the network segment connecting the management workstation to the inverter, then authenticate to the inverter using Sunny Explorer and inspect the captured packets for plaintext password stringsAffected if Passwords appear in plaintext within captured network packets during authentication
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Verify network accessibility of inverter management interfaceCheck if the inverter's management interface is reachable over the local network (typically on port 80 or 443) and accessible to systems other than the management workstationAffected if The inverter management interface is exposed on the local network beyond the localhost connection
You are affected if you have any of the listed SMA inverter models managed by Sunny Explorer software on your network and plaintext password transmission is observed in captured traffic.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply vendor firmware updates when available; otherwise implement network segmentation to isolate inverter management interfaces and monitor for suspicious local network traffic.
- Implement network segmentation to isolate the affected devices from untrusted networks
- Use VLANs or air-gapped networks to limit potential packet sniffing opportunities
- Ensure Sunny Explorer is only used on trusted, secure workstations
- Monitor network traffic for suspicious localhost sniffing attempts
- Consider physical security to prevent unauthorized access to the network segment where the devices are installed
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-9854 — 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-2017-9854 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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