Cisco Identifies Multiple Vulnerabilities in Network Time Protocol daemon (ntpd)

Cisco is committed to improving the overall security of the products and services our customers rely on. As part of this commitment, Cisco assesses the security of software components used in our products. Open source software plays a key role in many Cisco products and as a result, ensuring the security of open source software components is vital, especially in the wake of major vulnerabilities such as Heartbleed and Shellshock.

In April 2014, the Linux Foundation spearheaded the creation of the Core Infrastructure Initiative in response to the disclosure of Heartbleed with the goal of securing open source projects that are widely used on the internet. As a member of the Linux Foundation Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII) Steering Group, Cisco is contributing to the CII effort by evaluating the Network Time Protocol daemon (ntpd) for security defects. ntpd is a widely deployed software package used to synchronize time between hosts. ntpd ships with a wide variety of network and embedded devices as well as desktop and server operating systems, including Mac OS X, major Linux distributions, and BSDs.

Today, in coordination with the NTP Project, Cisco is releasing 8 advisories for vulnerabilities that have been identified by the Talos Group and the Advanced Security Initiatives Group (ASIG) within Cisco. These vulnerabilities have been reported to the NTP Project in accordance with Cisco vulnerability reporting and disclosure guidelines. The NTP Project has responded by issuing a Security Advisory along with releasing a patched version of ntpd. The following serves as a summary for all the advisories being released. For the full advisories, readers should visit the Vulnerability Reports page on the Talos website.