The Kerberos Protocol used in operating systems macOS, Windows and Linux, the vulnerability has been found, by the age of 21 years. The vulnerability allows to get the metadata, not from the encrypted part. Because of the wide distribution of the Protocol, many companies had to release patches.
In the network authentication Protocol Kerberos vulnerability has been discovered, which existed for nearly 21 years, according to Cnews. The Protocol is designed for mutual authentication of server and client. Because Kerberos is widely used by manufacturers found a “hole” dangerous to the operating systems of Apple, Microsoft, and Linux distributions.
The researchers named the vulnerability has been found Orpheus Lyre. In Greek mythology, the sounds of the lyre of the famous singer Orpheus was able to lull the three-headed dog Cerberus, in whose honor was named the Kerberos Protocol.
Instead of having to use public encryption keys of the authorized sertifikacionnyjj centers, Kerberos uses keys from a trusted key distribution center (KDC). The encrypted part of the mandate contains the user name, the metadata, and the session key. The centre also provides the client with a session key generated by the authenticator, which the user uses as a confirmation.
One of the main disadvantages of Kerberos — using too many unauthenticated plaintext in the Protocol. As a result, the error in two lines of code led to the fact that metadata may be extracted from the plain text of the mandate, not from the encrypted KDC reply.
This makes it possible to attack type “man in the middle”, in which an attacker is able to steal user credentials, escalate privileges in the system and crack the encryption, Kerberos. The researchers note that patching the vulnerability on the server side is difficult, it is better to divide from the client device.
Kerberos is used in Active Directory directory service for Microsoft Windows Server. Yesterday Microsoft released a patch that closed the Orpheus Lyre.
Operating systems Debian and FreeBSD and Samba package are also vulnerable to Orpheus Lyre, as used by Kerberos 5 implemented in an open protective FOR Heimdal. Heimdal is vulnerable to Orpheus Lyre to version 7.4.
Kerberos implementation in macOS also allows you to attack the IBM system using this vulnerability. Linux distribution vulnerable Fedora. All companies have already created updates that protect their products from this threat.
