CVE-2026-104046
Description
A flaw was found in SSSD (System Security Services Daemon). When Identity Provider (IdP) authentication is enabled, pre-authentication requests retain state in memory without being cleared or timed out. A local attacker can repeatedly initiate authentication flows without completing them, causing unbounded memory consumption. This memory exhaustion can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) by degrading or terminating SSSD authentication services.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as having Moderate impact because it requires local access to a PAM authentication interface and specifically targets non-default configurations where identity provider (IdP) authentication is active. An unprivileged local attacker can repeatedly trigger device pre-authentication flows without completing the final authentication step, causing SSSD to retain orphaned state in memory indefinitely. While prolonged exploitation can lead to a denial of service via memory exhaustion of the SSSD backend process, the flaw does not facilitate unauthorized access, data exposure, or privilege escalation.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
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 | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 6.2 | N/A | 6.2 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Acknowledgements
This issue was discovered by Found by AISLE in partnership with Red Hat.
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