Service interruption via unbounded certificate constraint verification
Published Feb 9, 2026 · Updated Feb 9, 2026
Resource exhaustion in GnuTLS certificate verification allows remote attackers to interrupt services with crafted certificates. The name-constraint verification path processes every subject alternative name and name constraint without bounding their number, driving CPU use to 100% and causing memory use to grow continuously. Exposure requires an application to verify an attacker-controlled certificate; the demonstrated consequence is resource exhaustion rather than data access or modification.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in GnuTLS certificate verification allows remote attackers to interrupt services with crafted certificates. The name-constraint verification path processes every subject alternative name and name constraint without bounding their number, driving CPU use to 100% and causing memory use to grow continuously. Exposure requires an application to verify an attacker-controlled certificate; the demonstrated consequence is resource exhaustion rather than data access or modification.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-14831
- Published
- Feb 9, 2026
- Updated
- Feb 9, 2026
- Vendor
- 389 Directory Server
- Product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Classifications
- CWE-407, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 9, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 9, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Affected versions are unavailable in this record. Check the vendor advisory for version and patch details.
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- GnuTLS issue 1773 certificate-verification reproductionproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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