CVE-2018-16860

A flaw was found in samba's Heimdal KDC implementation, versions 4.8.x up to, excluding 4.8.12, 4.9.x up to, excluding 4.9.8 and 4.10.x up to, excluding 4.10.3, when used in AD DC mode. A man in the middle attacker could use this flaw to intercept the request to the KDC and replace the user name (principal) in the request with any desired user name (principal) that exists in the KDC effectively obtaining a ticket for that principal.

Published: 2019-07-31 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-16860 is rated Moderate Risk (56.8/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.17%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-16860

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 2026-05-31 2.02% 1.17% -0.85%
2 2026-03-10 2.05% 2.02% -0.03%
3 2026-02-11 — 2.05% —

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-16860

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.6 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.6 5.9 [email protected]
6.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 6.8 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-16860

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-16860

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2018-16860: 2 source package rows (heimdal, samba); 35 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 20, open 15. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-16860
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-16860 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (heimdal, samba), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 10. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-16860
gentoo normal CVE-2018-16860: 1 GLSA(s) (202003-52), 1 atom(s) (net-fs/samba); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-16860
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16860
suse high — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16860/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-16860 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (heimdal, samba), 22 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 12, not-affected 7, ignored 2, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-16860

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-16860

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
samba samba >= 4.8.0, < 4.8.12 cpe:2.3:a:samba:samba:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
samba samba >= 4.9.0, < 4.9.8 cpe:2.3:a:samba:samba:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
samba samba >= 4.10.0, < 4.10.3 cpe:2.3:a:samba:samba:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
heimdal_project heimdal >= 0.8, <= 7.5.0 cpe:2.3:a:heimdal_project:heimdal:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-16860

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-08/msg00026.html
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Aug/11
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Aug/13
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Aug/14
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Aug/15
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16860 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Aug/21
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Aug/22
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Aug/23
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Aug/25
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-52
https://support.apple.com/HT210346
https://support.apple.com/HT210348
https://support.apple.com/HT210351
https://support.apple.com/HT210353
https://www.samba.org/samba/security/CVE-2018-16860.html Mitigation Vendor Advisory
https://www.synology.com/security/advisory/Synology_SA_19_23
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