Executive brief
A security flaw was identified in the 389 Directory Server, an enterprise-grade LDAP server used for managing user identities and authentication. The software uses a predictable method for encrypting sensitive data stored in its database, which could allow an administrator or an attacker with high-level access to the server's files to identify matching pieces of encrypted information. This could lead to the exposure of sensitive user attributes or facilitate further decryption of protected data.
Technical details
A vulnerability exists in the LDBM backend of 389-ds-base (specifically in ldbm_attrcrypt.c) due to the use of a hardcoded, static initialization vector (IV) consisting of 16 bytes of 0x61 for AES-CBC and 3DES-CBC encryption operations. Because CBC mode requires a unique and unpredictable IV for each operation to ensure semantic security, this implementation flaw results in identical plaintext attributes producing identical ciphertext. An attacker with privileged local access to the LDBM database files can exploit this to detect plaintext equality across encrypted entries and perform offline cryptanalysis. The vulnerability is tracked as CWE-329.
Affected products
- Red Hat 389-ds-base Red Hat Directory Server 11, 12, 13; RHEL 7, 8, 9, 10
Timeline
- 2026-07-07: disclosed: Initial vulnerability report and CVE assignment
- 2026-07-07: advisory: NVD and Red Hat published advisory details