CVE-2026-87853 PUBLISHED

Sssd: sssd: idp authentication prefix comparison allows cross-user impersonation

Assigner: redhat
Reserved: 09.09.2026 Published: 09.09.2026 Updated: 09.09.2026

A flaw was found in SSSD's IdP authentication provider. The eval_access_token_buf() function compares the OIDC subject identifier using strncmp() with the authenticated user's identifier length, performing a prefix comparison instead of an exact match. An attacker whose IdP identifier is a strict prefix of a target user's identifier can authenticate as the target user.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS Score: 7.5

Product Status

Vendor Red Hat
Product Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
Versions Default: affected
Vendor Red Hat
Product Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Versions Default: unknown
Vendor Red Hat
Product Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Versions Default: unaffected
Vendor Red Hat
Product Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Versions Default: unaffected
Vendor Red Hat
Product Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Versions Default: unaffected
Vendor Red Hat
Product Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Versions Default: unaffected
Vendor Red Hat
Product Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Versions Default: unaffected

Workarounds

Deployments not using the IdP authentication provider (idp_type = keycloak) are not affected. For affected deployments: (1) If using Keycloak LDAP federation, switching to Import Users: enabled mode causes Keycloak to assign random UUIDs as sub claims, making prefix collisions astronomically unlikely. (2) Restrict PAM login to specific users via simple_allow_users or access_provider = simple. (3) Disable Keycloak self-registration to prevent attackers from creating accounts with chosen prefix usernames.

Credits

  • Red Hat would like to thank Moritz Theile for reporting this issue.

References

Problem Types

  • Partial String Comparison CWE