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CVE-2011-4862: GNU Inetutils: Buffer overflow

CVE-2011-4862 has a CVSS v2 base score of 10.0 (the maximum on that scale) and affects GNU Inetutils, along with 6 other products in NVD’s configuration data. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

Buffer overflow in libtelnet/encrypt.c in telnetd in FreeBSD 7.3 through 9.0, MIT Kerberos Version 5 Applications (aka krb5-appl) 1.0.2 and earlier, Heimdal 1.5.1 and earlier, GNU inetutils, and possibly other products allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a long encryption key, as exploited in the wild in December 2011.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v2.0 10.0: AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Access vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network.
Access complexity: Low. No special conditions are required.
Authentication: None. No authentication is needed.
Confidentiality impact: Complete. Total information disclosure.
Integrity impact: Complete. Total loss of integrity.
Availability impact: Complete. Total shutdown of the component.

Underlying weakness

CWE-120: Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input

The product copies an input buffer to an output buffer without verifying that the size of the input buffer is less than the size of the output buffer.

Affected products

GNU Inetutils: before 1.9
Heimdal Project: up to and including 1.5.1
Mit Krb5 Appl: up to and including 1.0.2
Freebsd: from 7.3 up to and including 9.0
Fedoraproject: 15; 16
Debian Linux: 5.0; 6.0; 7.0
Opensuse: 11.3; 11.4
Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop: 10 sp4; 11 sp1
Suse Linux Enterprise Server: 9; 10 sp2; 10 sp3; 10 sp4; 11 sp1
Suse Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit: 10 sp4; 11 sp1