CVE-1999-1296
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedBuffer overflow in Kerberos IV compatibility libraries as used in Kerberos V allows local users to gain root privileges via a long line in a kerberos configuration file, which can be specified via the KRB_CONF environmental variable.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in Kerberos IV compatibility libraries bundled with Kerberos V allows local attackers to escalate privileges to root by specifying a malicious kerberos configuration file via the KRB_CONF environment variable containing an overly long line that triggers the overflow.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 1.5.2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Kerberos V versionRun 'kinit --version' or check package manager for kerberos5 packagesAffected if Installed version equals 1.5.2
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Verify Kerberos IV compatibility libraries presenceCheck for existence of Kerberos IV compatibility libraries (libkrb4 or similar) in /usr/lib or library paths; these are the bundled IV compatibility components within the V distributionAffected if Kerberos IV compatibility libraries are installed alongside Kerberos V
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Confirm KRB_CONF environment variable is in useCheck if KRB_CONF is set in the system environment or in any service/user configurations by running 'env | grep KRB_CONF'Affected if KRB_CONF environment variable is defined and points to a configurable path
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Assess file permission controls on KRB_CONF targetExamine the file specified by KRB_CONF (or default /etc/krb5.conf) and its directory for world/group writability using 'ls -la' on the config file pathAffected if Unprivileged users can write to the KRB_CONF configuration file or its parent directory, allowing them to specify a malicious config file path
User is affected if running Kerberos V 1.5.2 with Kerberos IV compatibility libraries present and unprivileged users can influence or control the KRB_CONF configuration path.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply vendor patches for this historical Kerberos vulnerability; if patches are unavailable for legacy systems, restrict KRB_CONF environment variable usage and file permissions to prevent unprivileged users from controlling the configuration path.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-1296 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-1999-1296 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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