dbcve.org
Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2026-12610

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-06-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click 7 weeks old

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 sssd. When authenticating with a YubiKey, the SSSD PAM responder can crash due to a use-after-free vulnerability, where a memory pointer is incorrectly handled. A local attacker could exploit this flaw by manipulating smartcard or YubiKey contents, leading to a denial of service that disrupts authentication. This vulnerability also presents a potential for privilege escalation, although it is difficult to exploit.

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 · moderate confidence

SSSD's PAM responder contains a use-after-free vulnerability when handling YubiKey or smartcard authentication. A local attacker can manipulate smartcard/YubiKey contents to trigger improper memory pointer handling, causing the PAM responder to crash. While the primary impact is denial of service, the memory corruption presents potential for privilege escalation, though exploitation is difficult.

MitigationApply SSSD security updates when available. Until then, restrict physical access to YubiKey/smartcard slots and monitor for authentication failures in system logs. Consider disabling YubiKey/smartcard PAM authentication if not required.

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:= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0
SssdApplication
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
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Verify SSSD is installed and get its version
    Run 'rpm -q sssd' to check if SSSD is installed. If installed, run 'rpm -q --qf '%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}' sssd' to get the exact version number, or 'sssd --version' if the command is available.
    Affected if SSSD is installed and the version matches RHEL 8.0, 9.0, or 10.0, or any version on Fedora.
  2. Confirm the PAM responder is enabled
    Check if the SSSD PAM responder service is running by examining /etc/sssd/sssd.conf for 'services = nss, pam' or similar configuration, or run 'systemctl status sssd-pam' if available.
    Affected if The PAM responder is enabled in SSSD configuration.
  3. Check for smartcard or YubiKey authentication configuration
    Inspect /etc/sssd/sssd.conf for 'pam_authenticator' or 'pam_cert_auth' options under [pam] section, or look for smartcard-related modules in /etc/pam.d/ files (such as pam_sss.so with smartcard_auth=1).
    Affected if Smartcard or YubiKey authentication is explicitly configured in SSSD or PAM configuration.
  4. Identify active smartcard/YubiKey PAM modules
    Run 'grep -r smartcard /etc/pam.d/' or 'grep -r yubikey /etc/pam.d/' to search for PAM stack entries that handle smartcard or YubiKey authentication.
    Affected if Any PAM configuration entries reference smartcard or YubiKey authentication modules.

A user is affected if they have SSSD installed with an affected version and have smartcard or YubiKey PAM authentication configured and enabled.

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

Apply SSSD security updates when available. Until then, restrict physical access to YubiKey/smartcard slots and monitor for authentication failures in system logs. Consider disabling YubiKey/smartcard PAM authentication if not required.

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
34.0 hours of engineering $5,940
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $9,504.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-12610 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2026-12610 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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