dbcve.org
TelegrafApplication · Influxdata

CVE-2020-35187

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-12-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.9.4-alpine 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
The official telegraf docker images before 1.9.4-alpine (Alpine specific) contain a blank password for a root user. System using the telegraf docker container deployed by affected versions of the docker image may allow a remote attacker to achieve root access with a blank password.

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 telegraf Docker Alpine images prior to version 1.9.4-alpine contain a root user account configured with a blank password. This configuration vulnerability allows remote attackers to authenticate as root without credentials and gain full control of the container.

MitigationUpgrade telegraf Docker images to version 1.9.4-alpine or later, or migrate to non-Alpine base images. Also ensure network access to telegraf containers is restricted and not exposed publicly.

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
TelegrafApplication
Affected:>= 0.13.0-alpine, < 1.9.4-alpine

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:3.1/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. Identify telegraf image version
    Run 'docker images' or 'docker inspect <container>' to retrieve the image tag and version information
    Affected if The image tag shows a version between 0.13.0-alpine and 1.9.4-alpine (exclusive)
  2. Confirm Alpine base image
    Check the image label or inspect the image for 'alpine' in the tag name or base image reference
    Affected if The image tag or base image contains 'alpine' and the version is less than 1.9.4-alpine
  3. Inspect root account configuration
    Extract and inspect the /etc/shadow or /etc/passwd file from the container image to verify if root has a blank password entry
    Affected if The root user account exists with an empty password field (password column is empty or '*')
  4. Check for exposed network access
    Review container network configuration using 'docker inspect' or container runtime settings to determine if the telegraf ports (default 8125 UDP, 8086 TCP) are exposed to untrusted networks
    Affected if The telegraf container ports are mapped to host ports accessible from untrusted networks without firewall restrictions

You are affected if you are running any telegraf Docker Alpine image with version 0.13.0-alpine up to but not including 1.9.4-alpine, and the root account has a blank password configuration.

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 1.9.4-alpine or later
Fixed in 1.9.4-alpine
Interim mitigation

Upgrade telegraf Docker images to version 1.9.4-alpine or later, or migrate to non-Alpine base images. Also ensure network access to telegraf containers is restricted and not exposed publicly.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.9.4-alpine or later (e.g., 1.10.0-alpine, 1.11.0-alpine)

  1. Pull the fixed Telegraf Alpine docker image: docker pull telegraf:1.9.4-alpine (or a later stable version)
  2. Update your docker-compose.yml, Kubernetes manifests, or deployment scripts to reference telegraf:1.9.4-alpine or newer
  3. Stop and remove the existing vulnerable Telegraf container
  4. Deploy the new container with the updated image tag
  5. Verify the container is running correctly and telemetry data is being collected as expected

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

Fix this in Telegraf Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
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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-2020-35187 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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