HOMEVULNERABILITIESCVE-2020-10595
CRITICAL

CVE-2020-10595

CWE-120Published: March 31, 2020· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

9.8
CVSS v3.1

Official 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.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2020-10595 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.

The vulnerability requires no privileges and no user interaction, making it a prime target for automated exploitation campaigns and worm-like propagation.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 9.8.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability
Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges Req.None
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
Impact
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Vendors & Products

Debian1 product(s)
debian linux
pam-krb5_project1 product(s)
pam-krb5
Source: NVD CPE · 4 total CPE entries

Exploit & PoC Resources

NO KNOWN EXPLOITNo public exploit confirmed at this time
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Official Patches & Advisories

All References (12)

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2020-10595
CVSS Score9.8 / 10
SeverityCRITICAL
WeaknessCWE-120
CISA KEVNo
Affected2 vendor(s)
PublishedMar 31, 2020

Related CVEs (CWE-120)

Recommended Actions

  • Apply vendor patches immediately
  • Monitor CVE-2020-10595 in threat intel feeds
  • Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts
Data sourced from NVD (NIST), CISA KEV, and EPSS (FIRST). Analysis generated by CTIWatch. CVE data is provided under the NVD usage policy.