Skip to main content
View

Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Obtain valid IdM domain credentials
  2. Delivery
    Establish authenticated LDAP bind to directory server
  3. Exploit
    Send JOIN_OID extended operation with omitted request value
  4. Execution
    Trigger null pointer dereference in ipa-enrollment plugin
  5. Persist
    Crash 389 Directory Server process
  6. Impact
    Disrupt domain-wide IdM services

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Null pointer safety, defensive checks
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact

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 valid LDAP bind credential against the affected 389 Directory Server instance hosting the ipa-enrollment SLAPI plugin - this aligns with CVSS PR:L (low privileges). The target server must have the ipa-enrollment SLAPI plugin loaded, which is present when the ipa-server package is installed and the IPA server role is active. The attacker must be able to reach TCP port 389 or 636 on the IPA master or replica. The specific trigger is omitting the request value for the JOIN_OID in an LDAP extended operation request. Exploitation is limited by: (1) the requirement for at least a low-privilege authenticated LDAP session, ruling out unauthenticated external attackers without credentials; (2) the need for network access to the directory server port, which is typically restricted to the internal network or IdM clients; (3) impact is confined to availability only - no data exfiltration or persistent code execution is possible via this vector.

Impact

The provided CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) scores 6.5 and accurately characterizes the threat: network-reachable, low complexity, but gated behind at minimum low-privilege authentication (PR:L - a valid LDAP bind). This is a DoS-only vulnerability with no confidentiality or integrity impact, limiting its severity relative to code execution flaws. Real-world risk is moderate: any authenticated user in a Red Hat IdM domain could repeatably crash the directory server, which would disrupt Kerberos authentication, DNS, sudo policy enforcement, and certificate services across the domain. EPSS data is not included in the provided intelligence, so probabilistic exploitation likelihood cannot be quantified. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog and no POC is confirmed, suggesting no active exploitation at time of analysis. The main risk elevation factor is the scope of downstream impact - a crashed 389 Directory Server is not just an LDAP outage but a full IdM control-plane failure for the domain.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker who possesses any valid LDAP credential in the Red Hat IdM domain - including a low-privilege domain user - connects to the 389 Directory Server on TCP port 389 or 636 and sends a crafted LDAP extended operation request for the JOIN_OID with the request value field intentionally omitted from the BER encoding. The ipa-enrollment SLAPI plugin attempts to dereference the null request value pointer, triggering a process crash that brings down the directory server and disrupts all IdM-dependent services across the domain. No public POC has been confirmed, but the trigger condition (omitting a BER field) is trivially reproducible with standard LDAP libraries.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.

Alert me

AnalysisAIv1 – Aug 20, 2026

Denial of service in FreeIPA's ipa-enrollment SLAPI plugin allows any authenticated LDAP client to crash the 389 Directory Server by sending a malformed extended operation. The flaw (CWE-476, null pointer dereference) is triggered by omitting the request value for the JOIN_OID in the ipa-enrollment extended operation, causing the server to dereference a null pointer and crash. No public exploit or active exploitation has been identified at time of analysis; however, the low attack complexity and network-accessible vector make this a credible threat against any RHEL Identity Management deployment.

RemediationAI

The primary fix is to apply the vendor-supplied patch for the ipa-server or ipa-enrollment package once released by Red Hat; an exact fixed package version is not independently confirmed in the available intelligence - consult https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-73199 for the current errata status and specific RPM versions. As a compensating control while awaiting the patch, administrators can restrict LDAP access to the directory server to known, trusted IP ranges using firewalld or iptables rules targeting TCP port 389 and 636, reducing the attacker pool to explicitly authorized network segments; this does not eliminate risk if an insider or compromised host exists within the allowed range. A further control is to review and tighten LDAP ACIs to limit which accounts can issue extended operations against the IPA directory, though standard LDAP auth is likely sufficient to trigger the flaw given the PR:L signal. Disabling the ipa-enrollment extended operation entirely would break host enrollment workflows and is not recommended as a production mitigation.

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The ipa-enrollment component is a SLAPI (Server Plugin Application Interface) plugin running inside the 389 Directory Server, which provides the LDAP backend for Red Hat Identity Management (IdM/FreeIPA). LDAP extended operations allow clients to invoke custom server-side operations beyond the core LDAP protocol; the JOIN_OID operation specifically handles host enrollment. CWE-476 (Null Pointer Dereference) occurs here because the plugin code does not validate the presence of the request value before attempting to dereference it - when a client omits the value field from the extended operation BER encoding, the plugin receives a null pointer and crashes the directory server process. Per CPE data, affected products span cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_6 through red_hat_enterprise_linux_10, meaning all actively supported RHEL major versions with IPA server roles installed are potentially affected.

Know when Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 gets its next vulnerability

  • Watch products and get an email when something new is published
  • Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

No credit card · 7-day full trial

Severity by source

Vendor (redhat) PRIMARY 6.5 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
vuln.today AI 6.5 MEDIUM

Network-reachable LDAP endpoint requires authenticated bind (PR:L); null dereference crashes server with no confidentiality or integrity impact.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE MEDIUM
Red Hat 6.5 MEDIUM

Primary rating from Vendor (redhat).

CVSS VectorVendor: redhat

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

DescriptionCVE.org

A flaw was found in the ipa-enrollment SLAPI plugin. A remote authenticated client can exploit a null pointer dereference vulnerability by sending a malformed Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) extended operation. By omitting the request value for the JOIN_OID in the ipa-enrollment extended operation, an attacker can trigger a server crash, potentially causing a denial of service.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 78% exploitable
Prevalence
Medium
IPA server role deployed in RHEL enterprise environments, not universally
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium
EUVD NVD CVE.org EPSS Vulnrichment Vendor VulDB

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
Poc
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

32
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +32
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

A null pointer dereference occurs when a program attempts to access memory through a pointer that has been set to NULL (address 0x0).

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org

cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_enterprise_linux_9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2026-18663 MEDIUM
5.9 Aug 12

Heap corruption via double-free in 389-ds-base's LDAP control parsing allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to crash

CVE-2026-4631 CRITICAL POC
9.8 Apr 07

Remote code execution in Cockpit's web interface allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands on the h

CVE-2026-4480 CRITICAL POC
9.0 May 26

Remote code execution in Samba's printing subsystem allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary shell commands via craft

CVE-2026-101258 HIGH POC
7.8 Oct 06

Ghostscript can execute arbitrary shell commands with the privileges of its process when it renders a crafted PostScript

CVE-2026-18922 CRITICAL
9.8 Sep 07

Authentication bypass in 389 Directory Server (shipped as Red Hat Directory Server 11-13 and within RHEL 6-10) lets remo

CVE-2026-14544 CRITICAL
9.8 Jul 03

Remote code execution and privilege escalation in HPLIP (HP Linux Imaging and Printing) affects the hpcups print filter

CVE-2026-76578 CRITICAL
9.8 Sep 07

Unauthenticated privilege escalation in FreeIPA (Red Hat Identity Management) allows a remote attacker to gain genuine a

CVE-2026-102560 CRITICAL
9.8 Sep 29

A heap buffer overflow exists in libsoup's WebSocket permessage-deflate compression path: when a very large outbound mes

CVE-2026-5121 HIGH
7.5 Mar 30

Remote code execution in libarchive on 32-bit systems allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code via spe

CVE-2026-107935 CRITICAL
9.3 Oct 09

Unauthenticated path traversal in gvproxy, the network forwarder shipped in the gvisor-tap-vsock package (used by Podman

CVE-2026-28369 CRITICAL
9.1 Mar 27

HTTP request smuggling in Undertow (the embedded web server underpinning JBoss EAP, Red Hat Data Grid, and Apache Camel

CVE-2026-28368 CRITICAL
9.1 Mar 27

HTTP request smuggling in Red Hat Undertow allows remote unauthenticated attackers to bypass front-end security controls

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy