CVE-2024-26461
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2024-26461 is a memory leak vulnerability in Kerberos 5's GSSAPI sealing implementation that can lead to denial of service through resource exhaustion. Systems using krb5 1.21.2 for authentication are affected, particularly those with high-volume GSSAPI traffic. The vulnerability resides in the k5sealv3.c component of the krb5 library.
💻 Affected Systems
- Kerberos 5 (krb5)
- Any software using krb5 GSSAPI implementation
📦 What is this software?
Management Services For Element Software And Netapp Hci by Netapp
View all CVEs affecting Management Services For Element Software And Netapp Hci →
Ontap 9 by Netapp
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system unavailability due to memory exhaustion, causing authentication failures and service disruption across dependent applications.
Likely Case
Gradual performance degradation and intermittent authentication failures under sustained GSSAPI usage, eventually requiring service restarts.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper monitoring and resource limits, though memory consumption may still increase over time.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires the ability to trigger GSSAPI sealing operations, which typically requires authentication or service access.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: krb5 1.21.3 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240415-0011/
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Check current krb5 version: krb5-config --version
2. Update krb5 package using system package manager
3. For source installations: download krb5 1.21.3+ from MIT Kerberos website
4. Recompile and reinstall krb5
5. Restart all services using krb5/GSSAPI
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Limit GSSAPI usage
allReduce exposure by limiting applications that use GSSAPI sealing or implementing rate limiting
Memory monitoring and restart
linuxImplement monitoring for krb5-related processes and restart services when memory usage exceeds thresholds
# Monitor krb5 process memory: ps aux | grep -i krb5
# Set up alerting for memory growth in monitoring tools
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict memory limits for krb5-related processes using cgroups or ulimits
- Deploy network segmentation to limit which systems can trigger GSSAPI operations
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if krb5 version is exactly 1.21.2: krb5-config --version | grep '1.21.2'Check Version:
krb5-config --version || krb5kdc --version || klist -V 2>/dev/null | head -1Verify Fix Applied:
Verify krb5 version is 1.21.3 or higher: krb5-config --version📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual memory growth in krb5 processes
- Increased OOM killer activity for krb5-related processes
- Authentication failures correlated with memory exhaustion
Network Indicators:
- Abnormally high volume of GSSAPI traffic to single endpoints
- Repeated GSSAPI context establishment failures
SIEM Query:
process.name:krb5 AND memory.usage > threshold OR event.type:authentication_failure AND service:kerberos