Description

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.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "8.1",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-07T13:20:38.380Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-07T13:20:38.380Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A critical improper input validation vulnerability exists within the 'idp-add' command of FreeIPA. The vulnerability arises from the failure to sanitize '--organization' and '--base-url' parameters before they are processed by a constrained eval() function. This flaw allows any authenticated IPA principal, irrespective of their assigned privileges, to perform unauthorized operations against the server process.\nThe primary security impact includes the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive environment variables and the potential for a Denial of Service (DoS) attack via memory exhaustion. Because the validation check occurs after the tainted input is processed by the eval() function, the internal LDAP access control mechanisms are bypassed. The vulnerability poses a significant risk to the integrity and availability of the FreeIPA identity management environment, as it effectively elevates the capabilities of low-privileged authenticated users. Exploitation requires no special administrative privileges, only a valid session within the FreeIPA domain.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is rooted in the insecure handling of user-supplied input within the 'idp-add' utility's command-line argument parser. Specifically, the '--organization' and '--base-url' flags accept string inputs that are passed directly into a constrained eval() context. Under normal operation, these inputs should undergo rigorous validation to ensure they do not contain malicious code or unexpected sequences; however, in the current implementation, the validation logic is incorrectly sequenced.\nThe root cause is a race-like logic flaw where the potentially malicious input reaches the eval() execution path before the FreeIPA framework can invoke the appropriate LDAP access control checks. This allows the attacker to execute arbitrary code within the limited environment of the server process. By crafting a specific payload, an attacker can escape the intended constraints of the eval() function to probe the server's runtime environment.\nThe attack flow begins when an authenticated attacker initiates the 'idp-add' command with malformed arguments. Because the input is processed by eval() prematurely, the attacker can leverage Python's introspection capabilities to access the 'os.environ' object. This allows the adversary to read sensitive server environment variables, which may contain API keys, configuration secrets, or database credentials. Furthermore, by crafting a payload that triggers recursive or memory-intensive operations within the eval() context, an attacker can rapidly consume server memory, leading to an unhandled exception or process termination, effectively resulting in a denial-of-service condition.\nThe vulnerability is persistent across all versions of FreeIPA where the 'idp-add' command exists and incorporates this flawed validation sequence. The exploit is limited to authenticated principals, meaning an anonymous attacker cannot trigger the flaw; however, within a federated or large-scale identity environment, the threshold for exploitation remains low. Because the LDAP access control layer is bypassed, traditional role-based access control (RBAC) constraints intended to restrict 'idp-add' usage are nullified during the vulnerable window of execution."
}