Buffer overflow in Red Hat Directory Server 11
CVE-2026-14940
A heap-buffer-overflow flaw was found in 389 Directory Server (389-ds-base). When normalizing a Distinguished Name (DN) that contains a legacy-quoted value encoding a multivalued nested Relative Distinguished Name (RDN), the server can write past the end of a heap allocation while sorting RDN attribute-value pairs. An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger this condition by sending an LDAP operation whose DN reaches the DN normalization routine, such as a search with a crafted base DN. This can corrupt heap memory and may cause denial of service.
Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 5.3 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.005 (39.9th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 40th percentile — 39.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.005 · change: 0.000
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-14940 (vdb-entry, Vendor Advisory)
- bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi (issue-tracking, Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-14940?
- CVE-2026-14940 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Red Hat Directory Server 11, classified under Heap-based Buffer Overflow. CVSS score: 5.3/10. Published 2026-07-07.
- How severe is CVE-2026-14940?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.3 out of 10.