CVE-2026-17039
Received Received - Intake

PKI Core Certificate Authority Unauthorized Realm Renewal

Publication date: 2026-07-24

Last updated on: 2026-07-24

Assigner: Red Hat, Inc.

Description
A flaw was found in pki-core. The certificate authority (CA) renewal request path does not perform the realm-based authorization check that the enrollment path performs, allowing an authenticated user entitled to one realm to cause a certificate belonging to a different realm to be renewed without that realm's authorization.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-07-24
Last Modified
2026-07-24
Generated
2026-07-24
AI Q&A
2026-07-24
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-17039
EUVD
EUVD-2026-48615

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 4 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
redhat pki-core From 6 (inc) to 9 (inc)
redhat dogtag-pki 10
redhat redhat-pki From 10 (inc) to 11 (inc)
redhat pki-core *

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-863 The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

CVE-2026-17039 is a flaw in the Dogtag Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) system where the certificate renewal process does not perform a required realm-based authorization check. This allows an authenticated user with access to one realm to renew a certificate belonging to a different realm without proper authorization. The issue stems from a missing checkRealm call in the renewal path, which is present in the enrollment path.

Detection Guidance

To detect this vulnerability, inspect the Dogtag PKI system's certificate renewal and enrollment logs for unauthorized access attempts. Check for requests with the 'isRenewal' flag set to true that bypass realm authorization checks. Review the CertServlet.java and RenewalProcessor.java files for improper input validation in certificate operations.

Impact Analysis

The impact is limited. The renewed certificate's content is already accessible to unauthenticated users through the system's read API, so no new confidentiality exposure occurs. Private keys are not exposed, and the victim's certificate or renewal capability remains unaffected. Exploiting this requires a non-default deployment with realm-mapped authorization, making attack complexity high.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could potentially impact compliance with GDPR and HIPAA by allowing unauthorized access to certificate data. GDPR requires strict access controls for personal data, and HIPAA mandates protection of sensitive health information. The flaw allows an attacker to renew certificates across realms without proper authorization, which could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data if certificates are used for authentication or encryption in regulated environments.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply the latest patches for pki-core and related packages to enforce realm authorization checks during certificate renewal. Update the CertServlet.java and RenewalProcessor.java files to include proper input validation and realm checks. Monitor certificate renewal requests for anomalies and restrict access to sensitive API endpoints.

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