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FreeradiusApplication

CVE-2019-17185

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.0.20 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
In FreeRADIUS 3.0.x before 3.0.20, the EAP-pwd module used a global OpenSSL BN_CTX instance to handle all handshakes. This mean multiple threads use the same BN_CTX instance concurrently, resulting in crashes when concurrent EAP-pwd handshakes are initiated. This can be abused by an adversary as a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack.

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

In FreeRADIUS 3.0.x before 3.0.20, the EAP-pwd module uses a single global OpenSSL BN_CTX (Bignum Context) instance to handle all cryptographic operations for EAP-pwd handshakes. When multiple authentication requests occur concurrently across different threads, they attempt to use this shared BN_CTX simultaneously, causing memory corruption and crashes. An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger this condition by initiating concurrent EAP-pwd handshakes, resulting in a denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade FreeRADIUS to version 3.0.20 or later, which contains the fix to use thread-local BN_CTX instances. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, consider disabling the EAP-pwd method or deploying rate-limiting on authentication endpoints to reduce the attack surface.

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
FreeradiusApplication
Affected:>= 3.0.0, < 3.0.20
LeapOperating system
Affected:= 15.1

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

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. Determine FreeRADIUS version
    Run 'radiusd -v' or check the package version using 'rpm -q freeradius' (RHEL/CentOS) or 'dpkg -l freeradius' (Debian/Ubuntu)
    Affected if Version is 3.0.0 through 3.0.19 (any version before 3.0.20)
  2. Verify EAP-pwd module is loaded
    Check the FreeRADIUS configuration directory for the EAP module: examine 'eap.conf' in the radiusd mods-enabled folder, or grep for 'pwd' in the eap configuration files. Also check if 'eap' is listed in the modules section of radiusd.conf
    Affected if EAP-pwd is explicitly enabled in the eap configuration file (look for 'pwd' section with 'enabled = yes' or default configuration that includes pwd support)
  3. Confirm concurrent request handling is enabled
    FreeRADIUS handles concurrent requests by default when running in daemon mode. Check radiusd.conf for 'thread pool' settings or verify the server is running with default multi-threaded configuration
    Affected if The server is running with default or custom thread pool configuration allowing multiple simultaneous authentication requests (this is the default operational mode)
  4. Inspect EAP-pwd configuration in eap.conf
    Locate the eap.conf file (typically in /etc/raddb/mods-available/ or /etc/raddb/mods-enabled/) and examine the 'pwd' section to see if EAP-pwd is configured and enabled
    Affected if The 'pwd' section exists in eap.conf with default or custom settings, indicating the module is available for EAP-pwd handshakes

A user is affected if FreeRADIUS version is before 3.0.20 AND the EAP-pwd module is enabled and the server processes concurrent authentication requests (default behavior).

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.0.20 or later
Fixed in 3.0.20
Interim mitigation

Upgrade FreeRADIUS to version 3.0.20 or later, which contains the fix to use thread-local BN_CTX instances. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, consider disabling the EAP-pwd method or deploying rate-limiting on authentication endpoints to reduce the attack surface.

Fix this in Freeradius Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
19.0 hours of engineering $3,260
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,216.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2019-17185 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data