Unix red alert as Kerberos flaws are brought to light

Using the controversial security protocol Kerberos exposes network systems to attacks by hackers, a security analyst has warned.

Researcher NTA Monitor found that current versions of Kerberos released by key developer MIT contain several high-risk security vulnerabilities.

Kerberos is widely used for secure user identification on Unix platforms.

The protocol is an open security standard for strongly encrypted user authentication. It secures passwords sent over a network by encrypting them both on and off the server.

NTA Monitor analyst Deri Jones said server components in versions four and five of Kerberos contain flaws, which potentially allow attackers to gain root access to Kerberos servers and execute shell commands. Other vulnerabilities include buffer overflow flaws and Denial of Service attacks.

Jones said that because MIT are the key developers of the protocol, "its implementation would be widespread across security products such as firewalls and VPNs." He said that if intruders are able to access dedicated Kerberos servers, it would be very embarrassing for companies" because the technology works on a client server model.

MIT has said that it plans to release a patch addressing the flaws, which will bring the version up to 5.12. Vendors who incorporate MIT's version of Kerberos into their software are also developing patches for their websites.

Jones said that MIT's patch would be the most crucial because other vendors will base theirs upon it "and are typically one or two versions behind the current anyway," he said.

Microsoft recently developed an implementation for Windows 2000, which fuelled other developers' anger because it contained modified code that Microsoft did not release to the public, theoretically breaching open source guidelines.

See also:

Microsoft to use Kerberos for Passport

Analysts question software giant's motives  02 Oct 2001

Distributed firewalls - protecting from the inside

While most businesses these days rely on firewalls to offer protection from external attacks on a network, the increasing availability of distributed firewalls promises to provide companies with the additional benefits of an internal security mechanism.  25 Jul 2000

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