CVE-2026-104039: Expired Pointer Dereference in Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
Description
CVE-2026-104039 is a medium severity vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10's SSSD component. It involves an expired pointer dereference during GSSAPI authentication in the PAM responder, which can cause a denial of service by terminating system authentication services unexpectedly. The flaw is triggered when a local user sends an additional request over the same connection after cached connection state has been freed without clearing the reference pointer.
CVSS v3.1
Score 4.7medium
Affected software
Red Hat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
Red Hat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Red Hat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Red Hat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Red Hat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Red Hat
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Red Hat
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability in SSSD of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 allows a local attacker to cause a denial of service by exploiting improper handling of cached connection state during GSSAPI authentication in the PAM responder. Specifically, after the cached connection state is freed upon completion, the reference pointer is not cleared. An attacker can send an additional request over the same connection, causing the service to access invalid memory and terminate unexpectedly.
Potential Impact
The impact is a denial of service (DoS) affecting system authentication services, potentially disrupting user logins and other authentication-dependent operations. There is no confidentiality or integrity impact reported.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the Red Hat advisory at https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-104039 for current remediation guidance.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- redhat
- Date Reserved
- 2026-10-01T17:23:22.525Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Vendor Advisory Urls
- [{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-104039","vendor":"Red Hat"}]
Threat ID: 6ac450002cdf04f6566c70d7
Added to database: 10/06/2026, 01:33:52 UTC
Last enriched: 10/06/2026, 01:48:34 UTC
Last updated: 10/06/2026, 01:48:34 UTC
Views: 6
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