Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A logged-in OpenDJ user with a powerful proxy privilege could impersonate other directory users beyond their authorized scope. This could expose or alter sensitive directory data under another user’s identity. The issue affects versions before 5.1.2 and does not permit impersonation of the root user.
Executive priority
Treat as an urgent identity-system remediation. Prioritize upgrade planning immediately, especially where privileged service accounts or network-reachable LDAP endpoints are involved. The potential business impact is unauthorized access or modification performed under trusted user identities, although active exploitation is not established.
Technical view
OpenDJ’s SASL PLAIN authorization-identity handling checked PROXIED_AUTH privilege but omitted the mayProxy ACI scope check when authzid differed from the authenticated identity. Resolvable non-root targets supplied through dn:, u:, or bare forms could be assumed without the required proxy grant. Version 5.1.2 rejects unauthorized targets with INVALID_CREDENTIALS (49).
Likely exposure
Exposure is highest where OpenDJ versions below 5.1.2 accept SASL PLAIN authentication and accounts hold PROXIED_AUTH. Successful abuse requires valid authentication and that privilege, but can cross intended proxy authorization boundaries over the network without user interaction.
Exploitation context
The supplied record is not KEV-listed, and the cited sources provide no evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation nevertheless has low stated complexity and could compromise confidentiality and integrity because an eligible authenticated account can impersonate resolvable non-root users outside its permitted proxy scope.
Researcher notes
The authorization failure occurs before target-password validation in the vulnerable path: privilege possession substitutes for the missing target-specific mayProxy decision. The patch adds that authorization check and returns LDAP result 49 when denied. Scope is limited to resolvable non-root authorization identities and requires an authenticated principal holding PROXIED_AUTH.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade affected OpenDJ deployments to version 5.1.2 or later.
- Prioritize externally reachable or sensitive directory services using SASL PLAIN.
- Review which accounts hold PROXIED_AUTH and remove unnecessary assignments.
- Consult the vendor advisory and release notes before deployment.
- Apply normal backup, change-control, and rollback procedures for the upgrade.
Validation and detection
- Inventory OpenDJ versions and identify every deployment below 5.1.2.
- Determine whether affected deployments accept SASL PLAIN authentication.
- Enumerate accounts holding PROXIED_AUTH and review their intended proxy scope.
- After upgrading, verify unauthorized authorization identities receive INVALID_CREDENTIALS result 49.
- Confirm legitimate proxy operations allowed by mayProxy ACIs still function.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-285: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCWE-639: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-73644 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.6 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N3.15.8GitHub_MVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.6CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/OpenIdentityPlatform/OpenDJ/security/advisories/GHSA-p279-2cqp-84jgCVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/OpenIdentityPlatform/OpenDJ/commit/5c326850f1ab945cfca7ac9c5aaf77d1052c6bedCVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/OpenIdentityPlatform/OpenDJ/releases/tag/5.1.2CVE reference, GitHub_M · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Authorization
Improper Authorization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.