Code injection in FreeIPAGHSA-7hpj-hfcr-5qwm
HIGHGHSA-7hpj-hfcr-5qwm is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Code Injection vulnerability in ipa. A fix is available for ipa — see the affected versions and patch details below.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
ipa🐍ipa🐍ipa🐍freeipa🐍freeipa🐍freeipaReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
A flaw was found in IPA, all 4.6.x versions before 4.6.7, all 4.7.x versions before 4.7.4 and all 4.8.x versions before 4.8.3, in the way the internal function ber_scanf() was used in some components of the IPA server, which parsed kerberos key data. An unauthenticated attacker who could trigger parsing of the krb principal key could cause the IPA server to crash or in some conditions, cause arbitrary code to be executed on the server hosting the IPA server.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ipa | ≥ 4.6.2&&< 4.6.7 | 4.6.7pip install --upgrade 'ipa==4.6.7' |
| 🐍PyPI | ipa | ≥ 4.7.0&&< 4.7.4 | 4.7.4pip install --upgrade 'ipa==4.7.4' |
| 🐍PyPI | ipa | ≥ 4.8.0&&< 4.8.3 | 4.8.3pip install --upgrade 'ipa==4.8.3' |
| 🐍PyPI | freeipa | ≥ 4.6.2&&< 4.6.7 | 4.6.7pip install --upgrade 'freeipa==4.6.7' |
| 🐍PyPI | freeipa | ≥ 4.7.0&&< 4.7.4 | 4.7.4pip install --upgrade 'freeipa==4.7.4' |
| 🐍PyPI | freeipa | ≥ 4.8.0&&< 4.8.3 | 4.8.3pip install --upgrade 'freeipa==4.8.3' |
Affected Products
fedorafedoraprojectfreeipafreeipaDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ipa, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update ipa to 4.6.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-7hpj-hfcr-5qwm is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This flaw can be exploited by an unauthenticated attacker (PR:N) who could create a specially crafted "krbPrincipalKey" and send it to the IPA server (AV:N). The attack is relatively easy to conduct (AC:L), since all the attacker requires is a string which is long enough to write beyond the limits of the buffer on…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | ipa-0:4.6.5-11.el7_7.4 | RHSA-2020:0378 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | idm:DL1-8010020191127093529.6573b795 | RHBA-2019:4268 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 Update Services for SAP Solutions | idm:DL1-8000020200217171713.2874843d | RHSA-2020:1269 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-7hpj-hfcr-5qwm in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.