krb5 — security advisory
The unparse implementation in the Key Distribution Center (KDC) in MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) 1.6.x through 1.9, when an LDAP backend is used, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (file descriptor exhaustion and daemon hang) via a principal name that triggers use of a backslash escape sequence, as demonstrated by a \n sequence.
- Products
- krb5
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- 1.8.3+dfsg-5
- CVEs
- CVE-2011-0281
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 31 Oct 2026, 23:16 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
The unparse implementation in the Key Distribution Center (KDC) in MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) 1.6.x through 1.9, when an LDAP backend is used, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (file descriptor exhaustion and daemon hang) via a principal name that triggers use of a backslash escape sequence, as demonstrated by a \n sequence.
osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2011-0281
krb5
Fixed versions: 1.8.3+dfsg-5
krb5
Fixed versions: 1.8.3+dfsg-5
krb5
Fixed versions: 1.8.3+dfsg-5
Complete source record
{
"id": "9d87a56dd92e5379c684719121af5fce9ffbabf28c781bee70677541dc3d2922",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DEBIAN-CVE-2011-0281",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "DEBIAN-CVE-2011-0281",
"summary": "The unparse implementation in the Key Distribution Center (KDC) in MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) 1.6.x through 1.9, when an LDAP backend is used, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (file descriptor exhaustion and daemon hang) via a principal name that triggers use of a backslash escape sequence, as demonstrated by a \\n sequence.",
"evidence": "osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2011-0281",
"products": [
{
"name": {
"value": "krb5",
"evidence": "/affected/0/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "1.8.3+dfsg-5",
"evidence": "/affected/0/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
"value": "krb5",
"evidence": "/affected/1/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "1.8.3+dfsg-5",
"evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
"value": "krb5",
"evidence": "/affected/2/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "1.8.3+dfsg-5",
"evidence": "/affected/2/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
}
],
"severity": "unknown",
"structured": {
"id": "DEBIAN-CVE-2011-0281",
"aliases": [
"DEBIAN-CVE-2011-0281"
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "1.8.3+dfsg-5"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "krb5",
"purl": "pkg:deb/debian/krb5?arch=source&distro=bookworm",
"ecosystem": "Debian:12"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2011-0281.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {
"urgency": "not yet assigned"
}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "1.8.3+dfsg-5"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "krb5",
"purl": "pkg:deb/debian/krb5?arch=source&distro=trixie",
"ecosystem": "Debian:13"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2011-0281.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {
"urgency": "not yet assigned"
}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "1.8.3+dfsg-5"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "krb5",
"purl": "pkg:deb/debian/krb5?arch=source&distro=forky",
"ecosystem": "Debian:14"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2011-0281.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {
"urgency": "not yet assigned"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-23T17:47:39.319488502Z",
"provider": "osv",
"upstream": [
"CVE-2011-0281"
],
"references": [
"https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2011-0281"
]
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2011-0281",
"evidence": "/upstream"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": null
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 418170,
"published_at": "2011-02-10T18:00:55.237+00:00"
}