CVE-2025-10230
Description
A flaw was found in Samba, in the front-end WINS hook handling: NetBIOS names from registration packets are passed to a shell without proper validation or escaping. Unsanitized NetBIOS name data from WINS registration packets are inserted into a shell command and executed by the Samba Active Directory Domain Controller’s wins hook, allowing an unauthenticated network attacker to achieve remote command execution as the Samba process.
Statement
On Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) versions 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, the Samba packages as shipped are not affected by this vulnerability. This is because Red Hat does not provide Active Directory Domain Controller (AD DC) functionality in its Samba packages, and the vulnerable wins hook execution path exists only when Samba is configured as a domain controller with WINS support enabled. As a result, the Samba deployments on RHEL cannot be exploited via this issue.
This vulnerability is considered Critical rather than Important because it enables unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) on a Samba Active Directory Domain Controller through a trivially reachable network service. The flaw lies in the wins hook mechanism, where unvalidated NetBIOS names from incoming WINS registration packets are directly concatenated into a shell command and executed with sh -c. This means an attacker can inject arbitrary shell metacharacters and run commands with the privileges of the Samba process—often root on a DC. Unlike moderate flaws that may require authentication, complex preconditions, or result only in limited information exposure or denial of service, this issue provides a direct path to full system compromise over the network with minimal effort. The combination of remote reachability, lack of authentication, low complexity, and full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact justifies its classification as a Critical vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is currently available that meets Red Hat Product Security’s standards for usability, deployment, applicability, or stability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert: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).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 10 | N/A | 10 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Changed | N/A | Changed |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability,Non-Repudiation
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Read Files or Directories; Modify Files or Directories; Read Application Data; Modify Application Data; Hide Activities
Attackers could execute unauthorized operating system commands, which could then be used to disable the product, or read and modify data for which the attacker does not have permissions to access directly. Since the targeted application is directly executing the commands instead of the attacker, any malicious activities may appear to come from the application or the application's owner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
