CVE 2026 79678

A flaw was found in FreeIPA's idp-add command, where insufficiently validated --organization/--base-url input reaches a constrained eval() call before the corresponding LDAP access control check is enforced. This allows any authenticated IPA principal, regardless of privilege level, to enumerate and read the environment variables of the affected server process and to cause denial of service via memory exhaustion.

This flaw does not allow arbitrary code execution. The eval() call reachable through this flaw is constrained by a regular expression that forbids parentheses in the evaluated expression, which prevents invoking any function.

The severity of the confidentiality impact from this flaw depends on the deployment method. On a standard RPM-based Identity Management (IdM) installation, the affected server process's environment contains only non-sensitive, publicly documented path constants and configuration flags. In container-based deployments using the official FreeIPA server container image, where the Directory Manager and administrator passwords are commonly supplied via an environment variable at first boot, this flaw could expose those credentials if they remain present in the process environment after installation completes.

This flaw is rated Important rather than Critical because no code execution is possible, and rather than Moderate because the confirmed environment-disclosure and denial-of-service primitives are systematic and reliable, and are not dependent on non-default configuration to be triggered.

There is no configuration-based mitigation that prevents an authenticated but unprivileged principal from reaching the affected code path; upgrading to a fixed package is required once available. Administrators of container-based deployments should verify that credentials supplied via the PASSWORD environment variable during initial container setup do not persist in the running server process's environment.

Bugzilla 2523356 : freeIPA: idm: freeipa: idp-add eval() reachable before authorization check allows environment disclosure and denial of service

CWE-95 : Improper Neutralization of Directives in Dynamically Evaluated Code ('Eval Injection')

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert: Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications ).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation

Deployment-dependent confidentiality impact -- see flaw statement. No code execution: eval() gadget's regex forbids parentheses, blocking any function call. High confidentiality/availability driven by: (1) systematic environment-variable enumeration and read via parenthesis-free star/dict-unpacking plus a boolean-exception oracle, requiring no prior knowledge of variable names; (2) reliable memory-exhaustion DoS via a short right-associative exponentiation payload. Verified against real, unmodified python3-ipaserver/python3-ipalib source, not a reimplementation.

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Technical Impact: Read Files or Directories; Read Application Data

The injected code could access restricted data / files.

Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism

In some cases, injectable code controls authentication; this may lead to a remote vulnerability.

Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

Injected code can access resources that the attacker is directly prevented from accessing.

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Other

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

Code injection attacks can lead to loss of data integrity in nearly all cases as the control-plane data injected is always incidental to data recall or writing. Additionally, code injection can often result in the execution of arbitrary code or at least modify what code can be executed.

Technical Impact: Hide Activities

Often the actions performed by injected control code are unlogged.

Red Hat would like to thank Calif.io (in collaboration with Anthropic) for reporting this issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

"Under investigation" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is affected by this vulnerability. It only means that our Analysis Team is still working on determining whether the product is affected and how it is affected.

The term 'Affected' means that our Analysis team has determined that this product, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or OpenShift Container Platform 4, is affected by this vulnerability and a fix may be released to address this issue in the near future. This includes all minor releases of this product unless noted otherwise in the Statement text.

Upgrade to a supported product version that includes a fix for this vulnerability (recommended).

Apply a mitigation (if one exists).

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Apply a mitigation (if one exists).

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