Auth bypass in Freebsd

CVE-2023-3326

pam_krb5 authenticates a user by essentially running kinit with the password, getting a ticket-granting ticket (tgt) from the Kerberos KDC (Key Distribution Center) over the network, as a way to verify the password. However, if a keytab is not provisioned on the system, pam_krb5 has no way to validate the response from the KDC, and essentially trusts the tgt provided over the network as being valid. In a non-default FreeBSD installation that leverages pam_krb5 for authentication and does not have a keytab provisioned, an attacker that is able to control both the password and the KDC responses can return a valid tgt, allowing authentication to occur for any user on the system.

EPSS: 0.011 (62.2th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

  • Freebsd — versions 13.1, 13.2, 13.1-RELEASE

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-3326?
CVE-2023-3326 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Freebsd, classified under Incorrect Implementation of Authentication Algorithm. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2023-06-22.
How severe is CVE-2023-3326?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2023-3326 known to be exploited?
4 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.