Ipa: freeipa: authenticated dos in `otptoken-add` via unbounded otp key decoding/re-encoding
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-73196 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | redhat |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-08-20 11:16:21 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-08-20 16:17:53 UTC |
| Description | A flaw was found in FreeIPA. A low-privilege authenticated user can exploit this vulnerability by submitting an oversized One-Time Password (OTP) key value. This oversized key is then decoded and re-encoded without proper size limits, consuming excessive CPU and memory resources. This can lead to a denial of service, degrading the availability of the IPA service. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 4.3 MEDIUM from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS: 0.002210000 probability, percentile 0.128960000 (date 2026-08-22)
Problem Types: CWE-770 | CWE-770 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Secondary | 4.3 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSS | 4.3 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Not specified | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Not specified | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Not specified | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Not specified | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Not specified | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-73196 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi | [email protected] | bugzilla.redhat.com | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: This issue was discovered by Found by AISLE in partnership with Red Hat. (en)
Additional Advisory Data
| Source | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| CNA | 2026-05-11T20:27:44.000Z | Reported to Red Hat. |
| CNA | 2026-08-20T09:57:24.038Z | Made public. |
Workarounds
CNA: To mitigate this issue, enforce conservative HTTP request-body limits on the `/ipa/session/json` endpoint to reject oversized payloads before they reach the vulnerable IPA parameter conversion. Additionally, if operationally feasible, restrict self-managed token creation to trusted users and implement monitoring or rate-limiting for repeated large authenticated requests. Changes to HTTP server configurations or FreeIPA permissions may require service restarts or reloads to take effect.