MIT Kerberos 5: Privilege Escalation (CVE-2010-4020)
Published Sources: CVE.org
What is affected, what to do
MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) 1.8.x through 1.8.3 does not reject RC4 key-derivation checksums, which might allow remote authenticated users to forge a (1) AD-SIGNEDPATH or (2) AD-KDC-ISSUED signature, and possibly gain privileges, by leveraging the small key space that results from certain one-byte stream-cipher operations.
The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below.
- Affected
- MIT Kerberos 5
eq 1.8..1.8 - MIT Kerberos 5
eq 1.8.1..1.8.1 - MIT Kerberos 5
eq 1.8.2..1.8.2 - MIT Kerberos 5
eq 1.8.3..1.8.3
- MIT Kerberos 5
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Metrics
6.3
Priority
XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.
Source: NVD, CVSS v3
6.3
CVSS v3
Severity Medium on the scale from 0 to 10.
Source: CVE.org
1.9 %
EPSS score
Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 79.8
Show all metrics
- Severity
- Medium
Priority (0–325)
The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?
Read in glossary- 82.42 Methodology
Exploit maturity
An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.
Read in glossary- no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS
XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.
Read in glossary- 6.3 Methodology
CVSS v3
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 6.3
EPSS score
The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.
Read in glossary- 1.9 %
- Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile
The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.
Read in glossary- 79.8
- High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
KEV status
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- —
- Published
Detection rules
No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.
Classification under NIS2 and CRA
Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.
NIS2
NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.
Read in glossary- Handle the vulnerability in regular vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2.
CRA
The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.
Read in glossary- From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.
Read in glossary- Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.
Description
MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) 1.8.x through 1.8.3 does not reject RC4 key-derivation checksums, which might allow remote authenticated users to forge a (1) AD-SIGNEDPATH or (2) AD-KDC-ISSUED signature, and possibly gain privileges, by leveraging the small key space that results from certain one-byte stream-cipher operations.
Source: NVD (NIST), cvelistv5
Affected products
The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.
| Affected versions | Fixed in | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| mit | kerberos_5 |
|
|
Vendors and products
References & sources
- vupen.comADV-2010-3094Vulnerability database, x_refsource_VUPEN
- oracle.comtechnetwork/topics/security/cpujul2015-2367936.htmlx_refsource_CONFIRM, Patch, Vendor advisory
- mandriva.comMDVSA-2010:246Vendor advisory, x_refsource_MANDRIVA
- lists.fedoraproject.orgFEDORA-2010-18425Vendor advisory, x_refsource_FEDORA
- kb.vmware.comkb/1035108x_refsource_CONFIRM
- vupen.comADV-2010-3118Vulnerability database, x_refsource_VUPEN
- securityfocus.com20101130 MITKRB5-SA-2010-007 Multiple checksum handling vulnerabilities [CVE-2010-1324 CVE-2010-1323 CVE-2010-4020 CVE-2010-4021]Mailing list, x_refsource_BUGTRAQ
- lists.opensuse.orgSUSE-SR:2010:023Vendor advisory, x_refsource_SUSE
- vmware.comsecurity/advisories/VMSA-2011-0007.htmlx_refsource_CONFIRM
- lists.apple.comAPPLE-SA-2011-03-21-1Vendor advisory, x_refsource_APPLE
- web.mit.edukerberos/advisories/MITKRB5-SA-2010-007.txtx_refsource_CONFIRM, Vendor advisory
- vupen.comADV-2010-3095Vulnerability database, x_refsource_VUPEN
- secunia.com42399Third-party advisory, x_refsource_SECUNIA, Vendor advisory
- lists.vmware.com[security-announce] 20110428 VMSA-2011-0007 VMware ESXi and ESX Denial of Service and third party updates for Likewise components and ESX Service ConsoleMailing list, x_refsource_MLIST
- securitytracker.com1024803Vulnerability database, x_refsource_SECTRACK
- securityfocus.com20110428 VMSA-2011-0007 VMware ESXi and ESX Denial of Service and third party updates for Likewise components and ESX Service ConsoleMailing list, x_refsource_BUGTRAQ
- lists.fedoraproject.orgFEDORA-2010-18409Vendor advisory, x_refsource_FEDORA
- lists.opensuse.orgSUSE-SR:2010:024Vendor advisory, x_refsource_SUSE
- redhat.comRHSA-2010:0925Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- ubuntu.comUSN-1030-1Vendor advisory, x_refsource_UBUNTU
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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2010-4020"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2010-4020.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2010-4020 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>