VMSA-2016-0012
VMware Photon OS OVA default public ssh key
VMware Security Advisory
1. Summary
VMware Photon OS OVA contains a default public ssh key.
2. Relevant Products
- VMware Photon OS OVA 1.0
3. Problem Description
a. VMware Photon OS OVA default public ssh key
A public ssh key used in the Photon OS build environment was inadvertently left in the original Photon OS 1.0 OVAs. This issue would have allowed anyone with the corresponding private key to access any Photon OS system built from the original 1.0 OVAs.
The issue was discovered internally and the original OVAs have been replaced by updated OVAs. All instances of the corresponding private key have been deleted within VMware.
Customers that have downloaded a Photon OS 1.0 OVA before August 14, 2016 should review the Photon OS OVAs release notes for the workaround or should download a new OVA and replace all existing instances with new instances built from the updated Photon OS 1.0 OVAs. These release notes also document a test for when an OVA is affected.
This issue is only present in the original Photon OS 1.0 OVAs and is not present in other Photon OS deliverables.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2016-5333 to this issue.
Column 5 of the following table lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.
VMware Product
Product Version
Running on
Severity
Replace with/ Apply Patch*
Workaround
4. Solution
Please review the patch/release notes for your product and version and verify the checksum of your downloaded file.
VMware Photon OS 1.0 OVA
OVA Download
https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki/Downloading-Photon-OS
Release Notes
https://github.com/vmware/photon/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md
5. References
6. Change log
2016-08-15 VMSA-2016-0012
Initial security advisory in conjunction with the release of updated Photon OS 1.0 OVAs
on 2016-08-15.
7. Contact
E-mail list for product security notifications and announcements:
http://lists.vmware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/security-announce
This Security Advisory is posted to the following lists:
security-announce@lists.vmware.com
PGP key at: https://kb.vmware.com/kb/1055
VMware Security Advisories
http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories
VMware Security Response Policy
https://www.vmware.com/support/policies/security_response.html
VMware Lifecycle Support Phases
https://www.vmware.com/support/policies/lifecycle.html
Copyright 2016 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.