CVE-2026-14969
Description
A flaw was found in 389-ds-base where the LDBM backend attribute encryption uses a hardcoded static initialization vector for AES-CBC and 3DES-CBC operations, allowing an attacker with privileged filesystem access to detect plaintext equality across encrypted entries by comparing ciphertext blocks.
Statement
The 389-ds-base attribute encryption feature uses a static initialization vector for AES-CBC and 3DES-CBC operations, making the encryption deterministic. This does not enable direct plaintext recovery but allows ciphertext comparison across entries sharing the same attribute value.
Exploiting this requires privileged read access to the raw database files on disk, which on Red Hat Enterprise Linux are owned by the dirsrv user with mode 0700. An attacker with this level of access can typically obtain attribute values through more direct means, such as querying LDAP as Directory Manager. The practical risk is limited to scenarios where database files are exposed without the corresponding encryption keys, such as stolen backups.
Red Hat rates this Moderate: impact is limited to Confidentiality (C:H) with no Integrity or Availability impact, and exploitation requires local access (AV:L) with high privileges (PR:H).
Mitigation
Disable attribute encryption if it is not required for the deployment. If attribute encryption is required, restrict filesystem access to the LDBM database directory (/var/lib/dirsrv/slapd-<instance>/db/) to ensure only authorized administrators can read database files.
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 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Attack Vector | Local | Local | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | Low |
| Privileges Required | High | High | High |
| User Interaction | None | None | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | High | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | None |
| Availability Impact | None | None | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Application Data
If the IV is not properly initialized, data that is encrypted can be compromised and leak information.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Andrew Rukin (Arenadata) for reporting this issue.
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