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Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2019-14824

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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 · unedited
A flaw was found in the 'deref' plugin of 389-ds-base where it could use the 'search' permission to display attribute values. In some configurations, this could allow an authenticated attacker to view private attributes, such as password hashes.

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 confidence

The 'deref' plugin in 389-ds-base (Red Hat Directory Server) incorrectly uses 'search' permission to dereference and display attribute values, including private attributes. An authenticated attacker with search access could exploit this to view sensitive data such as password hashes that should be protected.

MitigationReview and restrict the deref plugin's attribute visibility permissions, ensuring private attributes are excluded from deref results even when the attacker has search permission.

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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
389 Directory ServerApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed 389-ds-base version
    Run 'rpm -q 389-ds-base' on RHEL/Fedora, or 'dpkg -l | grep 389-ds-base' on Debian to obtain the package version
    Affected if The installed version falls within the affected ranges (RHEL 7.0, Debian 8.0, or any Fedora version)
  2. Verify deref plugin is enabled
    Query the LDAP server configuration using 'cn=plugins,cn=config' for 'deref' plugin status, or check '/etc/dirsrv/slapd-*/dse.ldif' for 'nsslapd-pluginenabled: on' under the deref plugin entry
    Affected if The deref plugin is loaded and enabled on the directory server
  3. Check deref plugin configuration for exposed attributes
    Query 'cn=deref,cn=plugins,cn=config' to retrieve the 'nsslapd-derefattr' attribute which specifies which attributes are dereferenced
    Affected if The deref configuration includes sensitive/private attributes (such as userPassword, passwordHistory, or other private attributes) in the deref list
  4. Review ACI permissions on sensitive attributes
    Use 'ldapsearch -x -b "cn=schema,cn=config"' to retrieve attribute definitions, then check ACIs in the directory tree that grant 'search' permission on private attributes with 'targetattr="userPassword"' or similar
    Affected if ACIs exist that grant search permission on password-related attributes to authenticated users without sufficient restrictions
  5. Test attribute visibility via deref lookup
    As an authenticated user with only basic search permissions, perform a dereferenced search (ldapsearch with '-E deref=always') on a user entry to see if password hash attributes are returned
    Affected if Private attributes such as password hashes are returned in deref results despite the user only having search permission

You are affected if you run a vulnerable version of 389-ds-base with the deref plugin enabled and private attributes are configured to be dereferenced, allowing authenticated users with search-only access to view sensitive attribute values.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Review and restrict the deref plugin's attribute visibility permissions, ensuring private attributes are excluded from deref results even when the attacker has search permission.

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-14824 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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