Detections
Analytics
FreeBSD 'telnetd' Daemon Remote Buffer Overflow
critical Nessus Plugin ID 57462
Language:
Synopsis
The telnet server has a remote buffer overflow vulnerability.Description
A buffer overflow exists 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, and Heimdal 1.5.1 and earlier. The vulnerability also affects any 'telnetd' service derived from the FreeBSD codebase.Successful exploitation could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code via a long encryption key.
Note that this vulnerability has been exploited in the wild since December 2011.
Solution
Upgrade to the version of FreeBSD 'telnetd' specified in the vendor's advisory.See Also
http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www/advisories/MITKRB5-SA-2011-008.txt
Plugin Details
Severity: Critical
ID: 57462
File Name: telnetd_encrypt_overflow.nbin
Version: 1.88
Type: Remote
Family: Gain a shell remotely
Published: 1/9/2012
Updated: 9/29/2026
Configuration: Enable thorough checks (optional)
Supported Sensors: Nessus
Risk Information
VPR
Risk Factor: High
Score: 8.9
Percentile: 99.71
CVSS v2
Risk Factor: Critical
Base Score: 10
Temporal Score: 8.3
Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
CVSS Score Source: CVE-2011-4862
CVSS v3
Risk Factor: Critical
Base Score: 9.8
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Score Source: CVE-2011-4862
Vulnerability Information
CPE: cpe:/o:freebsd:freebsd
Exploit Available: true
Exploit Ease: Exploits are available
Patch Publication Date: 12/23/2011
Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/23/2011
Exploitable With
Core Impact
Metasploit (Linux BSD-derived Telnet Service Encryption Key ID Buffer Overflow)
ExploitHub (EH-11-760)
Reference Information
CVE: CVE-2011-4862
BID: 51182