CVE-2026-25506
Buffer Overflow in MUNGE Daemon Allows Credential Forgery
Publication date: 2026-02-10
Last updated on: 2026-02-25
Assigner: GitHub, Inc.
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| debian | debian_linux | 11.0 |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-787 | The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability exists in MUNGE, an authentication service used to create and validate user credentials. Specifically, versions 0.5 to 0.5.17 of the munged daemon have a buffer overflow flaw. A local attacker can send a specially crafted message with an oversized address length field, causing a buffer overflow that corrupts munged's internal state.
This corruption allows the attacker to extract cryptographic key material (the MAC subkey) from the process memory. With this leaked key, the attacker can forge arbitrary MUNGE credentials and impersonate any user, including root, to services relying on MUNGE for authentication.
The issue is fixed in version 0.5.18.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability can have serious security impacts. An attacker with local access can exploit it to leak cryptographic keys used for authentication.
By obtaining these keys, the attacker can forge credentials and impersonate any user, including privileged users like root.
This can lead to unauthorized access to systems and services that rely on MUNGE for authentication, potentially compromising system integrity, confidentiality, and availability.
How does this vulnerability affect compliance with common standards and regulations (like GDPR, HIPAA)?:
I don't know
How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?
I don't know
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
To mitigate this vulnerability, you should upgrade MUNGE to version 0.5.18 or later, where the buffer overflow issue in munged has been fixed.