Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessObtain valid Kerberos ticket in realm
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DeliveryComplete GSSAPI SASL bind with SSF>0
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ExploitSend oversized crafted UNBIND packet
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ExecutionOverflow 512-byte heap buffer in sasl_io_recv()
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ImpactCrash dirsrv process (directory DoS)
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Heap buffer bounds checking
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires a successfully established SASL bind that negotiates a security layer with SSF greater than 0 (integrity or confidentiality protection, typically via GSSAPI/Kerberos) - the vulnerable sasl_io_recv() path is only reached for SASL-wrapped connections, so plaintext or non-integrity binds do not trigger it. The attacker must be authenticated (PR:L): in FreeIPA / Red Hat Identity Management this means any domain user holding a valid Kerberos ticket, any enrolled host, or any service account. The trigger is a specifically crafted oversized LDAP UNBIND packet (up to ~2 MB) exceeding the 512-byte buffer. Limiting factors that reduce real-world risk: valid realm credentials are mandatory (no anonymous/unauthenticated path), the SASL integrity layer must be active, and the confirmed impact is a crash/DoS rather than proven code execution. The affected code is present in 389-ds-base from ~1.3.2 (2013) onward across RHEL 6-10 and Red Hat Directory Server 11-13. |
| Impact | Signals are moderately consistent but contain one important discrepancy. The supplied CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, base 8.8) rates full confidentiality, integrity, and availability loss, yet the description characterizes the outcome strictly as a denial of service (server crash) with no claim of code execution or data disclosure - CVSS indicates high C/I/A impact but the description implies availability-only impact, so the true severity is more consistent with a DoS-grade issue (my independent assessment lowers C/I to N). Attack complexity is low and the vector is network-reachable, but PR:L confirms authentication is required, which meaningfully caps exposure to insiders or any principal that can obtain a Kerberos ticket in an IdM realm. No EPSS score, KEV entry, POC, or SSVC decision data was provided; there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and no evidence of active exploitation. Net: a credible, easy-to-trigger crash risk for authenticated principals in Red Hat IdM/FreeIPA environments, but likely not a mass-exploitation, high-EPSS candidate given the auth and SASL-integrity prerequisites. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A low-privileged domain user in a Red Hat IdM realm obtains a normal Kerberos ticket, opens an LDAP connection to the directory server, and completes a GSSAPI SASL bind that negotiates an integrity layer (SSF > 0). They then send a single crafted, oversized UNBIND packet whose payload overflows the 512-byte heap buffer in sasl_io_recv(), crashing the dirsrv process and taking down directory-backed authentication for the domain. No public exploit is identified at time of analysis, and low attack complexity (AC:L) means the crafted packet is the only technical hurdle once authenticated. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Jul 07, 2026
Denial of service in Red Hat / 389 Directory Server (389-ds-base, versions since ~1.3.2/2013) allows an authenticated LDAP client to crash the server by sending an oversized UNBIND packet over a SASL integrity-protected connection. The oversized data overflows a fixed 512-byte heap receive buffer in sasl_io_recv() (sasl_io.c), and in FreeIPA / Red Hat IdM any domain user, enrolled host, or service account with a valid Kerberos ticket can trigger it after GSSAPI authentication. There is no public exploit identified at time of analysis, and this flaw is distinct from the earlier CVE-2025-14905 schema.c overflow, which did not fix this code path.
RemediationAI
No vendor-released patch version was identified at time of analysis; monitor the Red Hat advisory at https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-11610 and Bugzilla https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2484414 for the fixed 389-ds-base / Red Hat Directory Server package builds and apply them via the standard errata channel as soon as they publish, then restart the dirsrv instance. Because CVE-2025-14905's fix did not touch sasl_io.c, do not assume prior updates remediate this issue. As compensating controls until a patch is available: restrict which principals can bind by tightening Kerberos/GSSAPI access and pruning unnecessary service accounts and host enrollments (trade-off: reduces the pool of potential triggers but does not eliminate insider risk); place the LDAP/LDAPS ports (389/636 and IdM equivalents) behind network segmentation and firewall rules so only trusted management hosts can reach the directory (trade-off: may break legitimate clients that connect directly); and monitor for repeated dirsrv crashes/restarts and configure automatic service recovery (e.g. systemd Restart) to limit outage duration (trade-off: recovery masks but does not prevent the DoS). Disabling SASL security layers is not a practical mitigation in Kerberos-based IdM since GSSAPI integrity is core to normal operation.
Affected VersionsENISA
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Technical ContextAI · show details
389 Directory Server is Red Hat's open-source LDAP directory service and the storage/authentication backend for FreeIPA and Red Hat Identity Management. When a client negotiates a SASL bind with a security layer providing integrity or confidentiality (SSF > 0, e.g. via GSSAPI/Kerberos), inbound LDAP PDUs pass through the server's SASL I/O layer in sasl_io.c, which decodes and buffers received data before higher-level LDAP processing. The defect is a CWE-122 heap-based buffer overflow: sasl_io_recv() copies attacker-supplied packet data into a statically sized 512-byte heap buffer without validating the declared/actual length, so a crafted UNBIND PDU carrying up to roughly 2 MB of data writes far past the allocation. CPE data confirms the affected footprint spans Red Hat Directory Server 11, 12, and 13 and the 389-ds-base packages shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 through 10.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Authenticated network attacker (PR:L, AV:N, AC:L); description confirms only a server crash with no proven disclosure or code execution, so C:N/I:N/A:H rather than the input's C:H/I:H/A:H.
Primary rating from Vendor (redhat).
CVSS VectorVendor: redhat
DescriptionCVE.org
A heap buffer overflow flaw was found in the SASL I/O layer of 389 Directory Server (389-ds-base). After a successful SASL bind with integrity protection (SSF > 0), an authenticated attacker can send a specially crafted oversized LDAP UNBIND packet that is copied into a 512-byte heap receive buffer without a bounds check in sasl_io_recv() in sasl_io.c. This allows up to approximately 2 megabytes of attacker-controlled data to overflow the buffer, causing a denial of service (server crash). In FreeIPA and Red Hat Identity Management deployments, any domain user with a valid Kerberos ticket, any enrolled host, or any service account can trigger this vulnerability over the network after authenticating via GSSAPI. The vulnerable code path has existed since approximately 2013 (389-ds-base 1.3.2) and was not addressed by the CVE-2025-14905 fix, which patched a separate heap overflow in schema.c only.
Executive ViewAI
Red Hat 389 Directory Server (389-ds-base), a foundational authentication and identity management component deployed across enterprises, contains a denial-of-service vulnerability since version 1.3.2 (2013) that allows any authenticated domain user, service account, or enrolled host to crash the directory service remotely. Attackers can exploit this through LDAP UNBIND packets on SASL-protected connections, directly disrupting authentication infrastructure and user access organization-wide. With no vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis, this vulnerability requires immediate interim controls to protect identity and access infrastructure.
Restrict LDAP network access via firewall rules to known client IP ranges; implement connection rate limiting and per-client session limits on directory servers; deploy network-based detection for oversized UNBIND packets; maintain synchronized replica servers configured for rapid failover; minimize distribution of Kerberos service accounts and domain credentials; monitor directory server logs for connection anomalies and UNBIND errors; establish service restart procedures and on-call escalation for availability incidents; segment IdM infrastructure from untrusted networks.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
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What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.
A heap overflow occurs when a program writes data beyond the bounds of a buffer allocated in the heap memory region.
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
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Same weakness CWE-122 – Heap-based Buffer Overflow
View allSame technique Buffer Overflow
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: Important| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| SUSE Liberty Linux 10 | Fixed |
| SUSE Liberty Linux 8 | Fixed |
| SUSE Liberty Linux 9 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server LTS 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 6 | Affected |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 7 | Affected |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-BCL | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-BCL | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-BCL | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP2 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.2 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.2 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.2 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.3 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Affected |
| suse/389-ds | Affected |
EUVD-2026-42026
GHSA-2g8g-f92j-g4gq
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB