CVE-2019-17185 [High] | Denial of Service in Freeradius

In FreeRADIUS 3.0.x before 3.0.20, the EAP-pwd module used a global OpenSSL BN_CTX instance to handle all handshakes. This mean multiple threads use the same BN_CTX instance concurrently, resulting in crashes when concurrent EAP-pwd handshakes are initiated. This can be abused by an adversary as a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-03-16	0.55%	0.66%	+0.11%
2	2026-02-11	0.54%	0.55%	+0.01%
3	2026-02-10	—	0.54%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-03-16

0.55%

0.66%

+0.11%

2026-02-11

0.54%

0.55%

+0.01%

2026-02-10

—

0.54%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.5	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	3.9	3.6	[email protected]
5.0	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:L) Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable. Authentication (AU:N) No authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:N) No confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:N) No integrity impact. Availability impact (A:P) Partial availability impact.	10.0	2.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.5

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

3.9

3.6

[email protected]

5.0

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L): Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N): No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N): No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N): No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P): Partial availability impact.

10.0

2.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-17185

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	high	CVE-2019-17185: 1 source package rows (freeradius); 10 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 10.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-17185
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2019-17185 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (freeradius), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-17185
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-17185
`suse`	high	CVE-2019-17185 severity important: SUSE including 163 source package names (freeradius-3.0.13-15.el7, freeradius-3.0.20-3.module+el8.3.0+7597+67902674, …), 404 product×package rows across 45 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE Enterprise Storage 5, … (45 product lines)): Fixed 390, Known Not Affected 14.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-17185/
`ubuntu`	low	CVE-2019-17185 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (freeradius), 11 status rows across 11 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 7, released 2, DNE 1, ignored 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-17185

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-17185

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
freeradius	freeradius	>= 3.0.0, < 3.0.20	cpe:2.3:a:freeradius:freeradius::::::::
opensuse	leap	15.1	cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:::::::*

References for CVE-2019-17185

URL	Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-04/msg00039.html	Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://freeradius.org/security/	Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/FreeRADIUS/freeradius-server/releases/tag/release_3_0_20	Release Notes Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2019-17185

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-17185

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-17185

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-17185

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-17185

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-17185

References for CVE-2019-17185