What is CVE-2016-5714?

CVE-2016-5714 is a high-severity vulnerability in Puppet Agent, classified under Improper Access Control. CVSS score: 7.2/10. Published 2017-10-18.

How severe is CVE-2016-5714?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.2 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Puppet Agent

CVE-2016-5714

Puppet Enterprise 2015.3.3 and 2016.x before 2016.4.0, and Puppet Agent 1.3.6 through 1.7.0 allow remote attackers to bypass a host whitelist protection mechanism and execute arbitrary code on Puppet nodes via vectors related to command validation, aka "Puppet Execution Protocol (PXP) Command Whitelist Validation Vulnerability."

Published 2017-10-18 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.2 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.022 (82.6th percentile), scored 2026-10-20.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 83rd percentile — 82.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.022 · newest: 0.022 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Puppet Agent
Puppet Enterprise — versions 2015.3.3, 2016.1.1, 2016.1.2

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-284 — Improper Access Control

References

puppet.com/security/cve/pxp-agent-oct-2016 (Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory)
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201710-12 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
bugs.gentoo.org/597684 (Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
puppet.com/security/cve/cve-2016-5714 (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-5714?: CVE-2016-5714 is a high-severity vulnerability in Puppet Agent, classified under Improper Access Control. CVSS score: 7.2/10. Published 2017-10-18.
How severe is CVE-2016-5714?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.2 out of 10.