# CVE-2026-112318: MIT Kerberos 5 kadmind null pointer dereference via policy RPC

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-112318-the-policy-rpc-stubs-in-kadmin-server-server-stubs-c-in-mit  
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-2026-112318 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.5 · Published 2026-11-09

MIT Kerberos 5's administrative daemon (kadmind) crashes when it receives a policy request with an empty policy name, preventing administrators from managing user accounts, passwords, and permissions until the service is restarted. An authenticated remote attacker can trigger this denial of service by sending a specially crafted network request to the kadmin RPC service.

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

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-112318 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-112318 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-112318?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.5, published 9 November 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Mit Kerberos 5 1.5.3 and later.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-112318?** 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-2026-112318 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-112318?** Check whether you run Mit Kerberos 5 at an affected version. 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 policy RPC stubs in kadmin/server/server_stubs.c fail to validate NULL policy names decoded by xdr_nullstring(), leading to a NULL pointer dereference in authorization or logging code. A remote authenticated attacker (one with valid Kerberos credentials) can send a policy request with an empty name to crash kadmind. The vulnerability affects krb5 1.5.3 and later versions; kadmind must be exposed to the attacker's network.

## Affected products

- MIT Kerberos 5 1.5.3 and later

## 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-2026-112318](https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-112318)

## 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)