CVE-2026-18922389-ds-base: 389-ds-base: sasl plain authentication allows privilege escalation to directory manager via stale identity in cyrus sasl auxiliary property

Description

A flaw was found in 389 Directory Server. During SASL PLAIN authentication, a stale identity carried in a Cyrus SASL auxiliary property from a prior failed bind attempt can be installed on a connection following a subsequent, unrelated successful bind, regardless of which SASL mechanism completes that second bind. An attacker can send a SASL PLAIN bind as cn=Directory Manager with an incorrect password, then complete a SASL ANONYMOUS bind on the same connection, causing the server to grant Directory Manager authority without any valid credentials. A variant using a valid low-privileged account's own successful bind instead of an anonymous one is also possible.

Timeline

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.56% · top 53% of all CVEs (15 Nov 2026)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.8.

Affected products

• Red Hat · Red Hat Directory Server 11.5 E4S for RHEL 8

  • unaffected 8060020260908152739.0ca98e7e – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Directory Server 11.7 E4S for RHEL 8

  • unaffected 8080020260903102346.f969626e – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Directory Server 11.9 for RHEL 8

  • unaffected 8100020260904171440.37ed7c03 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Directory Server 12.2 E4S for RHEL 9

  • unaffected 9020020260903155914.1674d574 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Directory Server 12.4 E4S for RHEL 9

  • unaffected 9040020260903102623.1674d574 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

  • unaffected 0:3.2.0-10.el10_2 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0 Extended Update Support

  • unaffected 0:3.0.6-21.el10_0 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Extended Lifecycle Support - EXTENSION

  • unaffected 0:1.2.11.15-97.el6_10.1 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support

  • unaffected 0:1.3.11.1-15.el7_9 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

  • unaffected 8100020260904155442.25e700aa – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support

  • unaffected 8040020260901171549.96015a92 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On

  • unaffected 8040020260901171549.96015a92 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support

  • unaffected 8060020260901145727.824efc52 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On

  • unaffected 8060020260901145727.824efc52 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Telecommunications Update Service

  • unaffected 8080020260831180218.6dbb3803 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Update Services for SAP Solutions

  • unaffected 8080020260831180218.6dbb3803 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

  • unaffected 0:2.8.0-10.el9_8 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Update Services for SAP Solutions

  • unaffected 0:2.2.4-22.el9_2 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 Update Services for SAP Solutions

  • unaffected 0:2.4.5-29.el9_4 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.6 Extended Update Support

  • unaffected 0:2.6.1-24.el9_6 – < *

• Red Hat · Red Hat Directory Server 12

  All versions: affected

• Red Hat · Red Hat Directory Server 13

  All versions: unaffected

What to do

Workaround: Administrators can restrict nsslapd-allowed-sasl-mechanisms to only the mechanisms actually required (e.g. GSSAPI, EXTERNAL, GSS-SPNEGO), excluding PLAIN. Since the exploit chain requires the first bind attempt to be a failed SASL PLAIN bind as cn=Directory Manager, removing PLAIN from the allowed mechanism list prevents that step entirely — this blocks both the originally reported variant (valid low-privileged account) and the zero-credential SASL ANONYMOUS variant, since both depend on the same initial PLAIN bind to plant the stale identity.

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• EUVD EUVD-2026-72457 (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2026-18922](https://cveledger.app/badge/CVE-2026-18922.svg)](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-18922)

Record last updated 8 Oct 2026, 14:14 UTC.