CVE-2026-19843

A flaw was found in 389-ds-base. The Cockpit 389 Console's LDAP editor constructs an ldapsearch command by embedding an LDAP entry's distinguished name (DN) into a shell command string without proper escaping. An LDAP user with delegated privileges to create or rename directory entries could craft a malicious DN containing shell metacharacters. When a Cockpit administrator subsequently views the entry in the 389 Console, the embedded shell command executes with root privileges on the directory server host.

Important: This flaw allows an LDAP user holding delegated create/rename privileges over some subtree to achieve arbitrary command execution with root privileges on the host. The Cockpit 389 Console's LDAP editor embeds a raw LDAP entry DN into a double-quoted shell command string executed via Cockpit's privileged (superuser) channel. LDAP DN syntax does not require escaping of shell metacharacters such as $, (, and ), so a DN crafted with command substitution executes on the host when a more-privileged Cockpit operator subsequently views that entry. This compromises confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the host. Exploitation requires both a delegated LDAP write privilege and a privileged operator viewing the crafted entry; neither precondition alone is sufficient. This issue only affects Red Hat Directory Server deployments that include the Cockpit 389 Console; plain Red Hat Enterprise Linux does not ship this subpackage and is not affected.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Restrict Cockpit 389 Console access to trusted administrators, and restrict delegated LDAP add/rename privileges to trusted accounts, until a fix is available. This issue only affects Red Hat Directory Server deployments that include the Cockpit console; plain RHEL 389-ds-base is not affected.