Description
pam-krb5 before 4.9 has a buffer overflow that might cause remote code execution in situations involving supplemental prompting by a Kerberos library. It may overflow a buffer provided by the underlying Kerberos library by a single '\0' byte if an attacker responds to a prompt with an answer of a carefully chosen length. The effect may range from heap corruption to stack corruption depending on the structure of the underlying Kerberos library, with unknown effects but possibly including code execution. This code path is not used for normal authentication, but only when the Kerberos library does supplemental prompting, such as with PKINIT or when using the non-standard no_prompt PAM configuration option.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | libpam-krb5 | 4.9-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | libpam-krb5 | 4.9-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | libpam-krb5 | 4.9-1 | — |
| Debian 10 | libpam-krb5 | 4.8-2+deb10u1 | DSA-4648-1 |
| Debian 9 | libpam-krb5 | 4.7-4+deb9u1 | DSA-4648-1 |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 8 | libpam-krb5 | 4.6-3+deb8u1 | DLA-2166-1 |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | libpam-krb5 | 4.8-1ubuntu0.1 | USN-4314-1 |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | libpam-krb5 | 4.7-2ubuntu0.1 | USN-4314-1 |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS | libpam-krb5 | 4.6-2ubuntu0.1~esm1 | USN-4314-1 |
Advisories 3
- USN-4314-1 libpam-krb5 vulnerability Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Jun 29, 2026
- DSA-4648-1 libpam-krb5 - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DLA-2166-1 libpam-krb5 - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- https://github.com/rra/pam-krb5/commit/e7879e27a37119fad4faf133a9f70bdcdc75d760
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/03/31/1
- DSA-4648 vendor-advisory
- [debian-lts-announce] 20200401 [SECURITY] [DLA 2166-1] libpam-krb5 security update mailing-list
- USN-4314-1 vendor-advisory
- https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/pam-krb5/security/2020-03-30.html