CVE-2019-12098

In the client side of Heimdal before 7.6.0, failure to verify anonymous PKINIT PA-PKINIT-KX key exchange permits a man-in-the-middle attack. This issue is in krb5_init_creds_step in lib/krb5/init_creds_pw.c.

Published: 2019-05-15 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-12098 is rated Moderate Risk (58.4/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.12%). 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-2019-12098

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 2026-05-29 2.84% 2.12% -0.72%
2 2026-04-16 4.64% 2.84% -1.81%
3 2026-04-15 — 4.64% —

Full EPSS history (22 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-12098

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 5.2 [email protected]
7.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 5.2 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
5.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N 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:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-12098

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-12098

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2019-12098: 1 source package rows (heimdal); 16 state rows across 6 repos (3.10-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 1, open 15. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-12098
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-12098 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (heimdal), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-12098
ubuntu low CVE-2019-12098 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (heimdal), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 7, released 4, ignored 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-12098

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-12098

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
heimdal_project heimdal < 7.6.0 cpe:2.3:a:heimdal_project:heimdal:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 30 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:30:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 31 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse backports_sle 15.0 cpe:2.3:a:opensuse:backports_sle:15.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse backports_sle 15.0 cpe:2.3:a:opensuse:backports_sle:15.0:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.0 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 42.3 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:42.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-12098

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-07/msg00002.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-07/msg00003.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-08/msg00026.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.h5l.org/pipermail/heimdal-announce/2019-May/000009.html Patch Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/heimdal/heimdal/commit/2f7f3d9960aa6ea21358bdf3687cee5149aa35cf Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/heimdal/heimdal/compare/3e58559...bbafe72 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/heimdal/heimdal/releases/tag/heimdal-7.6.0 Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/GIXEDVVMPD6ZAJSMI2EZ7FNEIVNWE5PD/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/SLXXIF4LOQEAEDAF4UGP2AO6WDNTDFUB/
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jun/1 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4455 Third Party Advisory
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