CVE-2026-73196

Analyzed Analyzed - Analysis Complete

FreeIPA OTP Key Handling Denial of Service

Publication date: 2026-08-20

Last updated on: 2026-08-24

Assigner: redhat-SADP

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.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
Percentile:

Meta Information

Published

2026-08-20

Last Modified

2026-08-24

Generated

2026-09-09

AI Q&A

2026-08-20

EPSS Evaluated

2026-09-07

NVD

CVE-2026-73196

EUVD

EUVD-2026-63241

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
redhat	enterprise_linux	7.0
redhat	enterprise_linux	6.0
redhat	enterprise_linux	8.0
redhat	enterprise_linux	9.0
redhat	enterprise_linux	10.0
freeipa	freeipa	to 4.13.3 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-770	The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability in FreeIPA allows a low-privilege authenticated user to submit an oversized One-Time Password (OTP) key value. The system decodes and re-encodes this key without size limits, consuming excessive CPU and memory resources. This leads to a denial of service by degrading the availability of the IPA service.

Detection Guidance

Monitor for unusually high CPU or memory usage on FreeIPA servers, particularly during OTP token creation requests. Check HTTP server logs for large payloads sent to the /ipa/session/json endpoint. Look for repeated failed or slow responses from the IPA API when users attempt to add OTP tokens.

Impact Analysis

An attacker with low privileges can exploit this to consume server resources, causing service slowdowns or outages. This affects availability for all users relying on FreeIPA services, especially if repeated or parallel requests are made.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability primarily impacts service availability by causing resource exhaustion through CPU and memory consumption. It does not directly affect confidentiality or integrity of data, which are key concerns for GDPR and HIPAA. However, prolonged service degradation could indirectly impact compliance by disrupting access to critical systems or data processing operations.

Mitigation Strategies

Enforce conservative HTTP request-body limits on the /ipa/session/json endpoint to block oversized payloads. Restrict self-managed OTP token creation to trusted users only. Implement rate-limiting for large authenticated requests. Apply these changes to your HTTP server configuration and restart or reload the FreeIPA service.

Hi! I’m here to help you understand CVE-2026-73196. Ask me anything about the vulnerability, its impact, or mitigation strategies.

0/70