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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2008-0062

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2008-03-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.6.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
KDC in MIT Kerberos 5 (krb5kdc) does not set a global variable for some krb4 message types, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted messages that trigger a NULL pointer dereference or double-free.

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 · high confidence

The KDC (Key Distribution Center) in MIT Kerberos 5 (krb5kdc) fails to initialize a global variable for certain krb4 message types. When processing specially crafted krb4 messages, this leads to either NULL pointer dereference or double-free conditions, causing the KDC to crash or potentially allowing arbitrary code execution by remote attackers.

MitigationApply the vendor patch for MIT Kerberos 5 1.6 or upgrade to a patched version. If krb4 support is not required in the environment, consider disabling it to reduce attack surface.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 3.1= 4.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6.06= 6.10= 7.04= 7.10
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 7= 8
Kerberos 5Application
Affected:<= 1.6.3

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if MIT Kerberos 5 KDC is installed
    Look for the krb5kdc binary or krb5-kdc package on the system. Common locations: /usr/sbin/krb5kdc, /usr/local/sbin/krb5kdc. On Debian/Ubuntu: dpkg -l | grep krb5-kdc. On RHEL/Fedora: rpm -qa | grep krb5-server.
    Affected if The krb5kdc binary or krb5-server package is present on the system.
  2. Determine the installed MIT Kerberos 5 version
    Run 'krb5-config --version' or check the package version: dpkg -l krb5-kdc (Debian/Ubuntu) or rpm -q krb5-server (Fedora). Compare the version number to the affected range: any version <= 1.6.3.
    Affected if The installed version is 1.6.3 or lower, or the package version matches the vulnerable distribution versions (Debian 3.1, 4.0; Ubuntu 6.06, 6.10, 7.04, 7.10; Fedora 7, 8).
  3. Check if krb4 protocol support is enabled in the KDC
    Examine the KDC configuration file (typically /etc/krb5kdc/kdc.conf or /etc/krb5.conf) for the 'krb4' or 'v4' related settings. Look for enable flag or support configuration. Also check for presence of krb4 keytab files (usually named srvtab or keytab versions 4).
    Affected if krb4 support is explicitly enabled or krb4 keytab files exist in the KDC configuration directories.
  4. Verify the KDC service status
    Check if the krb5kdc service is currently running: 'service krb5-kdc status' (Debian/Ubuntu), 'systemctl status krb5kdc' (Fedora), or 'ps aux | grep krb5kdc'.
    Affected if The krb5kdc service is actively running and processing requests.

The system is affected if MIT Kerberos 5 KDC version 1.6.3 or lower is installed, krb4 support is enabled in the configuration, and the KDC service is running to process the vulnerable krb4 message handling code path.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.6.3
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch for MIT Kerberos 5 1.6 or upgrade to a patched version. If krb4 support is not required in the environment, consider disabling it to reduce attack surface.

Recommended fix High confidence

Kerberos 5 1.6.4 or later

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Kerberos 5 version by running 'krb5-config --version' or checking the krb5-server package version
  2. 2. For Debian/Ubuntu systems: Run 'apt-get update && apt-get install krb5-kdc krb5-admin-server' to install the latest available version
  3. 3. For Fedora systems: Run 'yum update krb5-server' to update to the fixed package
  4. 4. After updating, verify the new version is >= 1.6.4 using 'krb5-config --version'
  5. 5. Restart the KDC service: '/etc/init.d/krb5-kdc restart' or 'service krb5-kdc restart'
  6. 6. Ensure the KDC service is running properly: 'service krb5-kdc status'
Caveat Upgrading Kerberos 5 may require updating kerberos principal databases and could affect authentication for services using Kerberos - test in non-production environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-0062 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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