Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2022-41916
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 · uneditedHeimdal is an implementation of ASN.1/DER, PKIX, and Kerberos. Versions prior to 7.7.1 are vulnerable to a denial of service vulnerability in Heimdal's PKI certificate validation library, affecting the KDC (via PKINIT) and kinit (via PKINIT), as well as any third-party applications using Heimdal's libhx509. Users should upgrade to Heimdal 7.7.1 or 7.8. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
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 confidenceHeimdal versions prior to 7.7.1 contain a denial of service vulnerability in the PKI certificate validation library (libhx509). The flaw affects the KDC and kinit when using PKINIT for public key cryptography-based authentication, as well as any third-party applications that utilize Heimdal's libhx509 library for certificate validation.
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< 7.7.1CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Check Heimdal Kerberos versionRun 'heimdal --version' or check the version of installed heimdal packages via package manager (dpkg -l | grep heimdal or rpm -qa | grep heimdal)Affected if Version is lower than 7.7.1
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Verify PKINIT is in useExamine KDC configuration (kdc.conf) and client configuration (krb5.conf) for pkinit directives, or check if certificates are configured for authenticationAffected if PKINIT is enabled and configured in Kerberos configuration files
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Identify third-party applications using libhx509Search for binaries or applications that link against libhx509 by running 'ldd' on suspect binaries or checking /usr/lib for libhx509.so filesAffected if Third-party applications link to and actively use libhx509 for certificate validation
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Check Debian system packagesOn Debian systems, run 'dpkg -l | grep -i heimdal' to list installed Heimdal packages and their versionsAffected if Package version is below 7.7.1 on Debian 10 or 11
User is affected if running Heimdal version below 7.7.1 with PKINIT enabled or any third-party application actively using libhx509 for certificate validation.
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 · scoped7.7.1
Upgrade Heimdal to version 7.7.1 or 7.8 to patch the vulnerability. No workarounds are available, so immediate upgrading is required for any deployment using PKINIT or libhx509.
Heimdal 7.7.1 or 7.8
- Upgrade Heimdal to version 7.7.1 or 7.8 to resolve the vulnerability
- After upgrading, restart any services using Heimdal (KDC, kinit, or applications using libhx509) to ensure the patched library is loaded
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
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing8.0 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 $4,928.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-41916 — 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-2022-41916 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
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