Slapi NisApplication · Redhat
CVE-2015-0283
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe slapi-nis plug-in before 0.54.2 does not properly reallocate memory when processing user accounts, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and CPU consumption) via a request for a (1) group with a large number of members or (2) user that belongs to a large number of groups.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe slapi-nis plug-in before version 0.54.2 contains a memory reallocation flaw when processing user accounts with large group memberships or groups with many members. This causes an infinite loop resulting in CPU exhaustion and denial of service.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Slapi NisApplication
<= 0.54.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if slapi-nis is installedRun 'rpm -qa | grep slapi-nis' or 'yum list installed slapi-nis' to list the installed packageAffected if slapi-nis package is present on the system
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Determine slapi-nis versionRun 'rpm -q slapi-nis' to get the exact version number installedAffected if Version is 0.54.1 or lower (any version <= 0.54.1)
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Check for LDAP directory serviceVerify that the system is running an LDAP directory (e.g., 389 Directory Server) by checking for LDAP processes with 'ps aux | grep ldap' or reviewing /etc/dirsrv/ configurationAffected if LDAP directory service is active and slapi-nis is loaded as a plugin
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Identify large group membershipsQuery LDAP for groups with many members using 'ldapsearch' or check group definitions in the LDAP directory for groups containing hundreds of member entriesAffected if Groups with large member lists (hundreds of members) or users belonging to many groups exist in the LDAP directory
System is affected if slapi-nis version 0.54.1 or lower is installed alongside an active LDAP directory containing groups with many members, as this combination triggers the memory reallocation infinite loop.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade slapi-nis to version 0.54.2 or later to patch the memory handling vulnerability. Alternatively, implement query rate limiting on LDAP requests to mitigate requests that could trigger the infinite loop.
Fix this in Slapi Nis
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-0283 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-0283 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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