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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2015-7331 Puppetlabs CVE debrief

CVE-2015-7331 is a medium-severity vulnerability in the mcollective-puppet-agent plugin for Puppet. NVD describes that versions before 1.11.1 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code through vectors involving the --server argument. For defenders, the key takeaway is straightforward: if you use this plugin, confirm you are on 1.11.1 or later and review any workflows that rely on server selection or remote automation inputs.

Vendor
Puppetlabs
Product
CVE-2015-7331
CVSS
MEDIUM 6.6
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-01-30
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-01-30
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Puppet administrators, infrastructure automation teams, and security owners responsible for systems running mcollective-puppet-agent before 1.11.1 should treat this as relevant. It matters most where the plugin is used in administrative automation or where remote access paths to Puppet-related tooling exist.

Technical summary

According to NVD, the affected package is puppetlabs:mcollective-puppet-agent up to and including 1.11.0. The published CVSS v3.0 vector is AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N, indicating network reachability, high attack complexity, and high privileges required. The described impact is arbitrary code execution associated with use of the --server argument. NVD also lists CWE-254 as the weakness category.

Defensive priority

Medium. The issue is publicly documented and assigned CVSS 6.6, but exploitation requires high privileges and high attack complexity per the NVD vector. Prioritize remediation where the plugin is installed, especially on systems used for centralized automation or where privileged operator access is broadly available.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Upgrade mcollective-puppet-agent to version 1.11.1 or later.
  • Inventory Puppet systems to identify any installation of puppetlabs:mcollective-puppet-agent version 1.11.0 or earlier.
  • Review administrative workflows that pass or depend on the --server argument and restrict who can influence those inputs.
  • Limit privileged access to Puppet and MCollective administration paths to only necessary operators.
  • Validate exposure against the vendor advisory and NVD record, and document remediation status for affected hosts.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based on the NVD CVE record and the linked vendor/security references supplied in the source corpus. The vulnerability description states that mcollective-puppet-agent before 1.11.1 for Puppet allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via vectors involving the --server argument. The NVD metadata also identifies the affected CPE range as ending at 1.11.0 and provides CVSS v3.0 vector AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N. No additional technical details beyond the supplied corpus were used.

Official resources

CVE published by NVD/CVE on 2017-01-30T22:59:00.217Z. The record was last modified on 2026-05-13T00:24:29.033Z. Timing in this debrief is based on the CVE published/modified timestamps supplied in the source corpus.