CVE-2015-7703
ntp: config command can be used to set the pidfile and drift file paths
Severity
LowRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 2.0
Review impact separately from score.
Published · August 25, 2015
Updated · May 13, 2026
Description
It was found that NTP's :config command could be used to set the pidfile and driftfile paths without any restrictions. A remote attacker could use this flaw to overwrite a file on the file system with a file containing the pid of the ntpd process (immediately) or the current estimated drift of the system clock (in hourly intervals).
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
Disable remote runtime configuration with ntpq or ntpdc. In the default NTP configuration on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, runtime configuration with ntpq or ntpdc is limited to localhost.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 2.0 · 4AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:P/A:N
CWE-73 · External Control of File Name or Path