# CVE-2015-2697: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote authenticated users can crash the Kerberos KDC via a crafted TGS request, causing denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 9 Nov 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-2697, DSA-3395-2, GHSA-rw46-7hq3-wqv6, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-2697

## What is CVE-2015-2697?

CVE-2015-2697 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 9 Nov 2015. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The build_principal_va function in lib/krb5/krb/bld_princ.c in MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) before 1.14 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read and KDC crash) via an initial '\0' character in a long realm field within a TGS request.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-2697?

It affects 9 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Mit Kerberos 5, Opensuse Leap, Opensuse Opensuse, Oracle Solaris, Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop, Suse Linux Enterprise Server, Suse Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-2697?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-2697 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-2697 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-2697 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-2697 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 9 Nov 2015. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-2697 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2697/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2697/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-2697
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-2697
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-2697

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2697/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.