dbcve.org
OpensolarisOperating system · Sun

CVE-2009-0923

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-03-17
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Unspecified vulnerability in Kerberos Incremental Propagation in Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris snv_01 through snv_110 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (loss of incremental propagation requests to slave KDC servers) via unknown vectors related to the master Key Distribution Center (KDC) server.

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 confidence

Denial of service vulnerability in the Kerberos KDC incremental propagation mechanism of Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris (snv_01 through snv_110). Remote attackers can cause loss of incremental propagation requests to slave KDC servers by sending unspecified vectors to the master KDC server.

MitigationApply Oracle Solaris security patches or upgrade to a supported Solaris version. For OpenSolaris, migrate to Illumos or Oracle Solaris 11 which have newer Kerberos implementations. Verify KDC replication functionality after patching.

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
OpensolarisOperating system
Affected:= snv_01= snv_02= snv_03= snv_04= snv_05= snv_06= snv_07= snv_08= snv_09= snv_10= snv_11= snv_12
SolarisOperating system
Affected:= 10.0

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
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify the operating system version
    Run 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/release' to determine the exact Solaris or OpenSolaris version
    Affected if The system is running Solaris 10 (any update) or OpenSolaris builds snv_01 through snv_110 (snv_111 and later are not affected)
  2. Verify if the Kerberos KDC software is installed
    Check for the presence of the Kerberos KDC package by examining /usr/sbin/krb5kdc or using 'pkginfo | grep -i kerberos'
    Affected if The Kerberos KDC daemon (krb5kdc) is installed on the system
  3. Confirm the system is configured as a KDC server
    Examine the KDC configuration file typically located at /etc/krb5/kdc.conf or /etc/krb5kdc/kdc.conf for the presence of a [kdcdefaults] or realm-specific section
    Affected if The system is configured as a KDC (Key Distribution Center) server with a realm defined
  4. Determine if incremental propagation is in use
    Look for 'iprop' related configuration in the KDC config file or check for an iprop log file such as /var/krb5kdc/principal.iprop
    Affected if The system uses the Kerberos incremental propagation mechanism (iprop) to replicate data to slave KDC servers
  5. Check if the system acts as a master KDC for incremental propagation
    Review the KDC configuration for iprop-master-slave relationships or examine if the system serves as the primary KDC for a realm with slave replicas
    Affected if The system is configured as a master KDC that pushes incremental updates to slave KDC servers using the iprop mechanism

The system is affected if it runs Solaris 10 or OpenSolaris snv_01-110, has the Kerberos KDC installed, and is configured as a master KDC using the incremental propagation (iprop) mechanism to replicate to slave KDC servers.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Oracle Solaris security patches or upgrade to a supported Solaris version. For OpenSolaris, migrate to Illumos or Oracle Solaris 11 which have newer Kerberos implementations. Verify KDC replication functionality after patching.

Fix this in Opensolaris Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2009-0923 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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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