Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A test-style certificate authority authentication component was left enabled by default with a hardcoded secret. If exposed in a vulnerable Dogtag PKI pki-core deployment, an attacker could bypass normal authentication and cause improper certificate issuance.
Executive priority
Treat as a targeted remediation item for any certificate authority infrastructure. It is not KEV-listed, but CA integrity issues can undermine trust in internal systems and certificates.
Technical view
CVE-2017-7537 affects Dogtag PKI pki-core before 10.6.4. The issue is a hardcoded secret in a mock CMC authentication plugin that was accidentally enabled by default, creating a potential CA authentication bypass with high integrity impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to organizations running Dogtag PKI or Red Hat pki-core certificate authority services on vulnerable pre-10.6.4 builds.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show active exploitation, and the CVSS vector rates attack complexity as high. The risk is still meaningful because successful abuse could trick a CA into issuing certificates.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports vulnerable pki-core before 10.6.4, hardcoded secret, accidental default enablement, and potential certificate issuance bypass. Public sources provided do not confirm exploitation or detailed environmental prerequisites.
Mitigation direction
- Apply Red Hat or Dogtag pki-core updates addressing CVE-2017-7537.
- Prioritize updates for internet-reachable or externally integrated CA services.
- Follow vendor guidance for any non-Red Hat Dogtag PKI deployments.
- Temporarily reduce CA enrollment exposure while remediation is verified.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Dogtag PKI pki-core versions and flag builds before 10.6.4.
- Confirm RHSA-2017:2335 or equivalent vendor fixes are installed.
- Review CA configuration for unexpected mock CMC authentication plugin enablement.
- Check certificate issuance logs for unusual or unauthorized CMC activity.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-592: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2017-7537 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.9 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N2.23.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
5.9MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/dogtagpki/pki/commit/876d13c6d20e7e1235b9CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- RHSA-2017:2335CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2017-7537CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
DEPRECATED: Authentication Bypass Issues
DEPRECATED: Authentication Bypass Issues represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.