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CVE-2018-5709· NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

An issue was discovered in MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) through 1.16.

An issue was discovered in MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) through 1.16. There is a variable "dbentry->n_key_data" in kadmin/dbutil/dump.c that can store 16-bit data but unknowingly the developer has assigned a "u4" variable to it, which is for 32-bit data. An attacker can use this vulnerability to affect other artifacts of the database as we know that a Kerberos database dump file contains trusted data.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.0—No exploit Fix available
Published
Jan 16, 2018
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
2.0% · 80th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

31

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
1 / 30 · 2.0%

Affected systems

VendorProduct
mitkerberos

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • mit kerberosup to 5-1.16 inclusive

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.10krb5before 1.15.3-r01.15.3-r0
Debian:12krb5all versions—

Same product

mit: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2001-0554Buffer overflow in BSD-based telnetd telnet daemon on various operating systems allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a
    52Plan
  • CVE-2004-0523Multiple buffer overflows in krb5_aname_to_localname for MIT Kerberos 5 (krb5) 1.3.3 and earlier allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary
    43Plan
  • CVE-2009-4212Multiple integer underflows in the (1) AES and (2) RC4 decryption functionality in the crypto library in MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) 1.3 throu
    42Plan
  • CVE-2010-0283The Key Distribution Center (KDC) in MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) 1.7 before 1.7.2, and 1.8 alpha, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of
    32Monitor
  • CVE-2003-0138Version 4 of the Kerberos protocol (krb4), as used in Heimdal and other packages, allows an attacker to impersonate any principal in a realm
    31Monitor
  • CVE-2003-0139Certain weaknesses in the implementation of version 4 of the Kerberos protocol (krb4) in the krb5 distribution, when triple-DES keys are use
    31Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
alpine:krb51.15.3-r0 · Alpine:v3.10Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-190 · Integer Overflow or Wraparound

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

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Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records