CVE-2022-39028

What it is

telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.3, MIT krb5-appl through 1.0.3, and derivative works has a NULL pointer dereference via 0xff 0xf7 or 0xff 0xf8. In a typical installation, the telnetd application would crash but the telnet service would remain available through inetd. However, if the telnetd application has many crashes within a short time interval, the telnet service would become unavailable after inetd logs a "telnet/tcp server failing (looping), service terminated" error. NOTE: MIT krb5-appl is not supported upstream but is shipped by a few Linux distributions. The affected code was removed from the supported MIT Kerberos 5 (aka krb5) product many years ago, at version 1.8.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited over the network without logging in. High risk of service disruption.

Exploit odds

2.3% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2022-08-30 05:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-06-17 04:57 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 2.3% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 7.5 HIGH (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2022-08-30 05:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-06-17 04:57 UTC

Exploit probability

2.3% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-476 · NULL pointer dereference

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Gnu Inetutils ≤ 2.3
• Mit Kerberos 5 ≤ 1.0.3
• Debian Linux 10.0
• netkit-telnet Project netkit-telnet ≤ 0.17

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 7.5

Attack vector

Network

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

None

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Is it in your code?

Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.

Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2022-39028.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2022-39028. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.

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