CVE-2011-4862

Public on

Last Modified: UTC

CriticalCritical ImpactWhat does this mean?
DescriptionStatementAdditional informationCVSS Score DetailsWeakness (CWE)FAQ

Description

The CVE Program describes this issue as:

Buffer overflow in libtelnet/encrypt.c in telnetd in FreeBSD 7.3 through 9.0, MIT Kerberos Version 5 Applications (aka krb5-appl) 1.0.2 and earlier, Heimdal 1.5.1 and earlier, GNU inetutils, and possibly other products allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a long encryption key, as exploited in the wild in December 2011.

Statement

A buffer overflow flaw was found in the MIT krb5 telnet daemon (telnetd) as shipped with all supported versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. A remote attacker who can access the telnet port of a target machine could use this flaw to execute arbitrary code as root. While we are aware of public exploits for this issue that include targets for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, we are not aware of any yet which would be successful in gaining arbitrary root code execution in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, 5, or 6. However it is plausible that one could be created to do so. Note that the krb5 telnet daemon is not enabled by default in any version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. In addition, the default firewall rules block remote access to the telnet port. This flaw does not affect the telnet daemon distributed in the telnet-server package. For users who have enabled the krb5 telnet daemon and have it accessible remotely, they should disable it or apply the updates we have released. Since same encryption code is shared between the MIT krb5 telnet daemon and the telnet client, this issue affects the telnet client as well. The updates we have released fixes the issue for both, the telnet daemon and the telnet client.

Additional information

  • Bugzilla 770325: krb5: telnet client and server encrypt_keyid heap-based buffer overflow
  • CWE-130->CWE-119: Improper Handling of Length Parameter Inconsistency leads to Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
  • FAQ: Frequently asked questions about CVE-2011-4862

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v2 Score Breakdown
Red HatNVD

CVSS v2 Base Score

8.3

10

Attack Vector

Adjacent Network

Network

Access Complexity

Low

Low

Authentication

None

None

Confidentiality Impact

Complete

Complete

Integrity Impact

Complete

Complete

Availability Impact

Complete

Complete

CVSS v2 Vector

Red Hat: AV:A/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

NVD: AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

For open source software shipped by multiple vendors, the CVSS base scores may vary for each vendor's version depending on the version they ship, how they ship it, the platform, and even how the software is compiled. This makes scoring of vulnerabilities difficult for third-party vulnerability databases such as NVD that only provide a single CVSS base score for each vulnerability. Red Hat scores reflect how a vulnerability affects our products specifically.

For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/762393.

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?

  • "Under investigation" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is affected by this vulnerability. It only means that our Analysis Team is still working on determining whether the product is affected and how it is affected.
  • The term "Affected" means that our Analysis team has determined that this product, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or OpenShift Container Platform 4, is affected by this vulnerability and a fix may be released to address this issue in the near future. This includes all minor releases of this product unless noted otherwise in the Statement text.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

A "will not fix" status means that a fix for an affected product version is not planned or not possible due to complexity, which may create additional risk.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Upgrade to a supported product version that includes a fix for this vulnerability (recommended).
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

A deferred status means that a fix for an affected product version is not guaranteed due to higher-priority development work.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.
  • Red Hat Engineering focuses on addressing high-priority issues based on their complexity or limited lifecycle support. Therefore, lower-priority issues will not receive immediate fixes.

What is a mitigation?

A mitigation is an action that can be taken to reduce the impact of a security vulnerability, without deploying any fixes.

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

The listed products were found to include one or more of the components that this vulnerability affects. These products underwent a thorough evaluation to determine their affectedness by this vulnerability. Note that layered products (such as container-based offerings) that consume affected components from any of the products listed in this table may be affected and are not represented.

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

In order to maintain code stability and compatibility, Red Hat usually does not rebase packages to entirely new versions. Instead, we backport fixes and new features to an older version of the package we distribute. This can result in some security scanners that only consider the package version to report the package as vulnerable. To avoid this, we suggest that you use an approved vulnerability scanner from our Red Hat Vulnerability Scanner Certification program.

Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.