Medium Denial of service

CVE-2026-73196 — Ipa: freeipa: authenticated dos in `otptoken-add` via unbounded otp key decoding/re-encoding

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.

Published Aug 20, 2026 · Updated Oct 16, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: redhat

Low

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.

How the score was calculated

EPSS 0.4% (30-day exploitation probability)+5
Technical severity (medium)+3

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation

Not confirmed

Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.

EPSS FIRST

0.43%

ahead of 35% of scored CVEs · Oct 15, 2026

Affects

Freeipa

Freeipa and 5 more

CVSS base

6.5

Medium · 3 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation

None

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

can an attacker script the kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Freeipa Freeipa, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10…).
No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (denial of service), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Freeipa	Freeipa	< 4.13.3	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Red Hat	Enterprise Linux	version 6.0version 7.0version 8.0version 9.0version 10.0	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10	versions not specified by the source	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	versions not specified by the source	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8	versions not specified by the source	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9	versions not specified by the source	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector

Network

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
6.5	CVSS 3.1	Medium	2.8	3.6	nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
4.3	CVSS 3.1	Medium	2.8	1.4	secalert@redhat.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
4.3	CVSS 3.1	Medium	—	—	redhat via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)

Scoring entities (NIST, CNA, ADP) score independently; each score is shown with its origin. For prioritization we use 6.5 (NVD (NIST)) as a conservative provisional reference — not a definitive official score.

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-770 · Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

Other CVEs with this weakness →

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
Track CPU/memory spikes and availability drops correlated with request patterns.

web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSresource metrics

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
Affected products added · red hat/red hat enterprise linux 10, red hat/red hat enterprise linux 7, red hat/red hat enterprise linux 8, red hat/red
Oct 16, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
SSVC assessment updated
Oct 16, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 15, 2026
CVSS changed · 6.5
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Analyzed
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVE published
Aug 20, 2026 · redhat

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026

References

2 on the record

bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi
Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory, issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database
access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-73196
Vendor Advisory, vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Freeipa
every CVE for this vendor

Denial of service
same class

CWE-770
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

Medium CVE-2026-85231 Libtirpc: libtirpc: denial of service via unbounded memory allocation during rpcsec_gss decoding 2h
Medium CVE-2026-85977 Libtirpc: libtirpc: denial of service via unbounded memory allocation during portmapper response decoding 2h
Medium CVE-2026-89098 Nfs-utils: nfs-utils: denial of service via assertion failure in fsidd 3h
Low CVE-2026-111581 Libblockdev: libblockdev: argument injection in ntfs/vfat label-setting helpers via udisks2 setlabel() d-bus method 5h
Medium CVE-2026-111555 Luksmeta: missing slot-range validation permits out-of-gap device i/o 8h
High CVE-2026-105958 Spice-server: spice: heap oob read/write via unchecked migration data offsets 8h

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-73196 is "Ipa: freeipa: authenticated dos in `otptoken-add` via unbounded otp key decoding/re-encoding", rated Medium. It affects Freeipa (Freeipa); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 6.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.43% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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