Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Puppet Discovery could expose Windows login credentials during discovery. If HTTPS WinRM was unavailable, affected versions could fall back to Basic authentication over an insecure channel, putting credentials at risk of interception on the network.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority where Puppet Discovery managed Windows environments. The business concern is credential compromise that could enable follow-on access if affected discovery traffic was exposed.
Technical view
CVE-2018-11746 affects Puppet Discovery before 1.2.0 when running Discovery against Windows hosts. The issue is a WinRM connection behavior that may fall back to Basic auth without HTTPS, creating a high-confidentiality credential exposure risk. The CVSS v3.0 score is 8.6.
Likely exposure
Organizations are exposed if they used Puppet Discovery versions earlier than 1.2.0 to scan Windows hosts, especially where WinRM HTTPS was unavailable or not consistently enforced.
Exploitation context
The supplied sources do not show active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked as KEV. The main risk is credential disclosure during network communication, not remote code execution by itself.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE metadata and Puppet advisory reference. The affected condition is specific: Puppet Discovery prior to 1.2.0, Windows host discovery, and WinRM fallback to Basic auth over insecure channels.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Puppet Discovery to version 1.2.0 or later.
- Confirm Windows discovery uses HTTPS-secured WinRM.
- Review and rotate Discovery credentials if insecure use is suspected.
- Check Puppet’s advisory for environment-specific guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory installed Puppet Discovery versions.
- Identify Windows discovery jobs and credential sets used.
- Review WinRM configuration for HTTPS availability.
- Check logs or change records for pre-1.2.0 Windows discovery 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.
CVE-2018-11746 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
- High
- CVSS
- 8.6 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/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:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N3.94Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
8.6HighVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://puppet.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-11746CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- [pulsar-commits] 20201215 [GitHub] [pulsar] yanshuchong opened a new issue #8967: CVSS issue listCVE reference · mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
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.