# CVE-2026-112316: MIT Kerberos 5 memory leak in xdr_krb5_tl_data()

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-112316-xdr-krb5-tl-data-in-lib-kadm5-kadm-rpc-xdr-c-in-mit-kerberos-5  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-11-09. Updated: 2026-11-09  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-112316 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.5 · Published 2026-11-09

MIT Kerberos 5's administration daemon (kadmind) fails to free memory when processing malformed RPC requests, allowing authenticated users to exhaust server memory and cause a denial of service. An attacker with valid Kerberos credentials can send specially crafted requests to repeatedly trigger the memory leak, making the administration service unavailable to legitimate users.

Technologies: [Mit Kerberos 5](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/kerberos-5). Vendors: [Mit](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/mit).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-112316 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-112316 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-112316?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.5, published 9 November 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** MIT Kerberos 5.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-112316?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Restrict network access to kadmind to trusted hosts, or disable it in favor of the kadmin.local server-side command line tool for administration operations if possible. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2026-112316 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-112316?** Check whether you run Mit Kerberos 5. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## How to fix


Restrict network access to kadmind to trusted hosts, or disable it in favor of the kadmin.local server-side command line tool for administration operations if possible.

## Technical details

The xdr_krb5_tl_data() function in lib/kadm5/kadm_rpc_xdr.c does not properly release allocated memory when XDR decoding fails, leading to a memory leak in the kadmind process. The vulnerability requires network access and valid Kerberos authentication; it can be exploited by any authenticated client prior to administrative authorization checks, causing unbounded heap memory exhaustion without enabling code execution or data exfiltration.

## Affected products

- MIT Kerberos 5

## Timeline

- 2026-11-09: disclosed

## References

- [https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/](https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/)
- [https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-112316](https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-112316)

## Related threats

- [MIT Kerberos 5 denial of service in ASN.1 SEQUENCE OF decoding](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-119079-decode-sequence-of-in-lib-krb5-asn-1-asn1-encode-c-in-mit)
- [MIT Kerberos 5 kadmind memory exhaustion in AUTH_GSSAPI](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-112323-the-auth-gssapi-handler-in-lib-rpc-svc-auth-gssapi-c-in-mit)
- [MIT Kerberos 5 denial of service in kadmind AUTH_GSSAPI cleanup](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-112322-clean-client-in-lib-rpc-svc-auth-gssapi-c-in-mit-kerberos-5-aka)
- [MIT Kerberos memory exhaustion in AUTH_GSSAPI handler](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-112321-the-auth-gssapi-handler-in-lib-rpc-svc-auth-gssapi-c-in-mit)
- [MIT Kerberos 5 memory exhaustion via GSS-RPC authentication context leak](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-112320-the-gss-rpc-transport-layer-in-mit-kerberos-5-aka-krb5-1-4-and)