Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2022-23121
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 · uneditedThis vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Netatalk. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the parse_entries function. The issue results from the lack of proper error handling when parsing AppleDouble entries. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of root. Was ZDI-CAN-15819.
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 confidenceThis is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Netatalk's parse_entries function. The flaw stems from improper error handling during AppleDouble entry parsing, allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary code as root via specially crafted AppleDouble files.
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
= 10.0= 11.0< 3.1.13CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Netatalk is installedRun 'dpkg -l | grep netatalk' on Debian/Ubuntu, or 'rpm -qa | grep -i netatalk' on RHEL-based systems, or check for the 'afpd' binary with 'which afpd'Affected if Netatalk package or binary is present on the system
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Determine installed Netatalk versionRun 'dpkg -s netatalk' on Debian systems, 'rpm -qi netatalk' on RHEL-based systems, or 'afpd -V' if the binary supports version flagAffected if The installed version is lower than 3.1.13 or cannot be determined to be 3.1.13 or higher
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Check if AFP service is runningRun 'systemctl status afpd' or 'ps aux | grep afpd' to check if the AFP daemon process is activeAffected if The afpd service is currently running and accepting connections
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Verify AFP service network exposureCheck listening ports with 'ss -tlnp | grep 548' or 'netstat -tlnp | grep 548' (port 548 is the default AFP port), and review firewall rulesAffected if Port 548 is listening on a non-loopback interface and accessible from network segments that include untrusted users
Your environment is affected if Netatalk with a version below 3.1.13 is installed and the AFP service is running and network-accessible.
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.
dbcve · scoped3.1.13
Apply vendor patches for CVE-2022-23121 immediately; if no patch available, disable or restrict access to the AFP service and consider network isolation until remediation is possible.
Netatalk 3.1.13 or later (Debian packages may be available in security updates for Debian 10 and 11)
- 1. Check the current installed version of Netatalk using: dpkg -l | grep netatalk or netatalk --version
- 2. Update the package repository lists: apt update
- 3. Upgrade Netatalk to version 3.1.13 or later: apt install netatalk (on Debian)
- 4. Verify the installed version after upgrade: dpkg -l | grep netatalk
- 5. If using a source compilation method, download Netatalk 3.1.13 or later from the official source and recompile with appropriate configure options
- 6. Restart the netatalk/afpd service to apply changes: systemctl restart netatalk or systemctl restart afpd
- 7. Verify the service is running properly: systemctl status netatalk
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 / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-23121 — 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-2022-23121 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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