CVE-2015-7703

The "pidfile" or "driftfile" directives in NTP ntpd 4.2.x before 4.2.8p4, and 4.3.x before 4.3.77, when ntpd is configured to allow remote configuration, allows remote attackers with an IP address that is allowed to send configuration requests, and with knowledge of the remote configuration password to write to arbitrary files via the :config command.

Published: 2017-07-24 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2015-7703 is rated Moderate Risk (61/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 9.22%, 93th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2015-7703

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-27 10.73% 9.22% -1.51%
2 2026-05-25 9.22% 10.73% +1.51%
3 2026-05-21 — 9.22% —

Full EPSS history (27 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2015-7703

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2015-7703

OS Trackers for CVE-2015-7703

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2015-7703 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (ntp), 1 status rows across 1 suites (bullseye): resolved 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2015-7703
gentoo normal CVE-2015-7703: 1 GLSA(s) (201607-15), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/ntp); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2015-7703
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-7703
ubuntu medium CVE-2015-7703 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (ntp), 5 status rows across 5 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, vivid, wily): released 4, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-7703

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2015-7703

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ntp ntp >= 4.2.0, < 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp >= 4.3.0, < 4.3.77 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p1:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p1-beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p1-beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p1-beta3:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p1-beta4:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p1-beta5:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p1-rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p1-rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p2:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p2-rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p2-rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p2-rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p3:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p3-rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p3-rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
ntp ntp 4.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:ntp:ntp:4.2.8:p3-rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle linux 6 cpe:2.3:o:oracle:linux:6:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp oncommand_performance_manager — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:oncommand_performance_manager:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp oncommand_unified_manager — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:oncommand_unified_manager:-:*:*:*:*:clustered_data_ontap:*:*
netapp clustered_data_ontap — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:clustered_data_ontap:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp data_ontap — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:data_ontap:-:*:*:*:*:7-mode:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.5 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.7 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2015-7703

cvelogic Threat Intelligence