NTP BUG 3386: ntpq_stripquotes() returns incorrect value

Last update: June 27, 2022 20:45 UTC (51d68a4aa)

Summary

Resolved 4.2.8p10 21 Mar 2017
References Bug 3386
Affects All versions of NTP, up to but not including ntp-4.2.8p10,
and ntp-4.3.0 up to, but not including ntp-4.3.94.		 Resolved in 4.2.8p10.
CVSS2 Score NONE 0.0 AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:N
CVSS3 Score NONE 0.0 CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:N

Description

The NTP Mode 6 monitoring and control client, ntpq, uses the function ntpq_stripquotes() to remove quotes and escape characters from a given string. According to the documentation, the function is supposed to return the number of copied bytes but due to incorrect pointer usage this value is always zero. Although the return value of this function is never used in the code, this flaw could lead to a vulnerability in the future. Since relying on wrong return values when performing memory operations is a dangerous practice, it is recommended to return the correct value in accordance with the documentation pertinent to the code.

Mitigation

Credit

This weakness was discovered by Cure53.

Timeline