CVE-2018-16947 Auth bypass in n/a

What is CVE-2018-16947?

CVE-2018-16947 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 12 Sep 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

An issue was discovered in OpenAFS before 1.6.23 and 1.8.x before 1.8.2. The backup tape controller (butc) process accepts incoming RPCs but does not require (or allow for) authentication of those RPCs. Handling those RPCs results in operations being performed with administrator credentials, including dumping/restoring volume contents and manipulating the backup database. For example, an unauthenticated attacker can replace any volume's content with arbitrary data.

Weakness: CWE-287

Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-16947?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Openafs Openafs.

How do I fix CVE-2018-16947?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.

Is CVE-2018-16947 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-16947 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2018-16947, GHSA-67mr-rvh8-9qx2, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-16947.