CVE-2026-104035

Sssd: sssd: denial of service via memory exhaustion in kcm responder

Published Oct 6, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 5.5 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
A flaw was found in SSSD. An issue in the Kerberos Credential Manager (KCM) responder allows a local user to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by maintaining a persistent connection and repeatedly storing and destroying credentials. Because the service fails to release cached objects from memory when credentials are removed, memory consumption grows continuously, ultimately exhausting available memory and rendering the service unresponsive.

Remediation

Vendor Workaround

This issue can only be exploited when the SSSD KCM responder is enabled and reachable by a local user, so mitigation focuses on limiting that exposure. On systems that do not require KCM credential caching, disable the KCM responder by stopping and masking the sssd-kcm socket and service: # systemctl stop sssd-kcm.socket sssd-kcm.service # systemctl mask sssd-kcm.socket sssd-kcm.service Before disabling KCM, ensure an alternative Kerberos credential cache type (for example FILE: or KEYRING:) is configured in /etc/krb5.conf, because clients or system configurations that default to KCM: credential caches would otherwise lose Kerberos ticket management. On systems where KCM is required, restrict access to the KCM UNIX socket (/var/run/.heim_org.h5l.kcm-socket) to trusted local users where deployment policy permits. If abnormal memory growth is observed, closing the abusive client connection or restarting the sssd-kcm responder reclaims the retained connection-scoped memory; these are operational workarounds rather than a fix, and no released package fix is currently established.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat rhel Els
CPEs cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:5
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_els:6
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_els:7
Vendors & Products Redhat rhel Els
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat openshift Container Platform
Sssd
Sssd sssd
Vendors & Products Redhat openshift Container Platform
Sssd
Sssd sssd
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A flaw was found in SSSD. An issue in the Kerberos Credential Manager (KCM) responder allows a local user to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by maintaining a persistent connection and repeatedly storing and destroying credentials. Because the service fails to release cached objects from memory when credentials are removed, memory consumption grows continuously, ultimately exhausting available memory and rendering the service unresponsive.
Title Sssd: sssd: denial of service via memory exhaustion in kcm responder
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat openshift
Weaknesses CWE-772
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat openshift
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
redhat
Published
Updated
Nov 5, 2026, 3:52 PM
Reserved
Oct 1, 2026, 5:21 PM
Status
Undergoing Analysis
Published
Oct 6, 2026, 1:16 AM
Modified
Nov 5, 2026, 4:17 PM
Severity
Moderate
Public date
Oct 5, 2026, 11:47 PM