CVE-2026-11873: Pki-core: dogtag-pki: empty request to dogtag /ca/rest/certrequests causes http 500, java exception, and stacktrace disclosure
An Apache-proxied Dogtag CA REST endpoint exposed by IdM (POST /ca/rest/certrequests) returns HTTP 500 with internal Java stack traces for unauthenticated malformed requests. The same unauthenticated error path emits large multi-line stack traces into the CA debug log, creating a log-amplification resource exhaustion vector (disk growth and I/O contention) without requiring authentication.
Other sources
Description An Apache-proxied Dogtag CA REST endpoint exposed by IdM (POST /ca/rest/certrequests) returns HTTP 500 with internal Java stack traces for unauthenticated malformed requests. The same unauthenticated error path emits large multi-line stack traces into the CA debug log, enabling a log-amplification resource exhaustion vector (disk growth and I/O contention) without authentication. Each unauthenticated malformed request causes ~12 KB and ~139 log lines of CA debug output, which can rapidly grow logs and induce I/O pressure or disk exhaustion. The pentesting team measured that 25 invalid-JSON requests increased /var/log/pki/pki-tomcat/ca/debug.2026-02-18.log by 305,852 bytes (~0.31 MB) and 3,477 lines, which is approximately 12,234 bytes (~12.2 KB) and 139 log lines per request. Impact An unauthenticated adversary on the network segment who is able to reach the IdM server could trigger repeated Dogtag CA REST exceptions to harvest stack traces/internal class names and request-handling details, or amplify server-side logging to consume CPU/disk and degrade CA responsiveness, increasing the reliability of follow-on exploitation and DoS. Recommendations Make the CA REST API fail safely by checking auth early, returning simple 4xx errors for bad requests (no stack traces), and tuning exception handling and logging so attacker-controlled input can’t spam large stack-trace logs (rate-limit/truncate).
— Red Hat
Affected Software
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Which deployments are exposed?
Deployments exposing the Apache-proxied Dogtag CA REST endpoint at POST /ca/rest/certrequests through IdM are affected by the described unauthenticated error path.
What does an attacker need to trigger the issue?
No authentication or user interaction is required. An attacker can send malformed requests, including empty or invalid-JSON requests, to the endpoint.
How can defenders identify attempted exploitation or impact?
Look for HTTP 500 responses from POST /ca/rest/certrequests and corresponding multi-line Java stack traces in the CA debug log. The reported testing produced about 12.2 KB and 139 log lines per malformed request in /var/log/pki/pki-tomcat/ca/debug.2026-02-18.log.