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.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2011-4862 is rated High Exploit Risk (90.1/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 92.58%, 100th percentile). Core evidence: 4 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18368 | exploit_db | edb | 2012-01-14 | Exploit-DB ↗ |
| 18369 | exploit_db | edb | 2012-01-14 | Exploit-DB ↗ |
| 18280 | exploit_db | edb | 2011-12-26 | Exploit-DB ↗ |
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ |
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2025-12-01 | 92.41% | 92.58% | +0.18% |
| 2 | 2025-09-08 | 92.58% | 92.41% | -0.18% |
| 3 | 2025-03-17 | — | 92.58% | — |
Full EPSS history (16 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.0 | 2.0 | HIGH |
|
10.0 | 10.0 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
high | CVE-2011-4862 high priority: Debian including 3 source packages (heimdal, inetutils, krb5), 15 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 15. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2011-4862 |
gentoo
|
high | CVE-2011-4862: 2 GLSA(s) (201201-14, 201202-05), 2 atom(s) (app-crypt/heimdal, app-crypt/mit-krb5-appl); latest impact high. | https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2011-4862 |
redhat
|
critical | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2011-4862 |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2011-4862 medium priority: Ubuntu including 4 source packages (heimdal, inetutils, krb5, krb5-appl), 68 status rows across 17 suites (hardy, lucid, maverick, natty, oneiric, precise, quantal, raring, saucy, trusty, upstream, utopic, vivid, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 31, ignored 25, DNE 8, needs-triage 2, released 2. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2011-4862 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| gnu | inetutils | < 1.9 | cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| heimdal_project | heimdal | <= 1.5.1 | cpe:2.3:a:heimdal_project:heimdal:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| mit | krb5-appl | <= 1.0.2 | cpe:2.3:a:mit:krb5-appl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| freebsd | freebsd | >= 7.3, <= 9.0 | cpe:2.3:o:freebsd:freebsd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 15 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:15:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 16 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:16:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 5.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 6.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 7.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| opensuse | opensuse | 11.3 | cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:11.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| opensuse | opensuse | 11.4 | cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:11.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_desktop | 10 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:10:sp4:*:*:-:*:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_desktop | 11 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:11:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_server | 9 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:9:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_server | 10 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:10:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_server | 10 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:10:sp3:*:*:ltss:*:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_server | 10 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:10:sp4:*:*:-:*:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_server | 11 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp1:*:*:*:-:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_server | 11 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp1:*:*:-:vmware:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_software_development_kit | 10 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:10:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| suse | linux_enterprise_software_development_kit | 11 | cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:11:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:* |