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PASSEDvendor / hpe_aruba_clearpass_auth_failure
HPE Aruba ClearPass Authentication Failure
The HPE Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager cluster primary node crashes, and the secondary node's database is out of sync, causing all 802.1X authentications to fail across the entire campus network.
Pattern
MEMORY_EXHAUSTION
Severity
CRITICAL
Confidence
88%
Remediation
Remote Hands
Test Results
| Metric | Expected | Actual | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern Recognition | MEMORY_EXHAUSTION | MEMORY_EXHAUSTION | |
| Severity Assessment | CRITICAL | CRITICAL | |
| Incident Correlation | Yes | 28 linked | |
| Cascade Escalation | Yes | Yes | |
| Remediation | — | Remote Hands — Corax contacts on-site support via call, email, or API |
Scenario Conditions
HPE Aruba ClearPass cluster (2 nodes). Primary node process crash. Secondary node database 4 hours stale. All 802.1X wired and wireless auth failing. 2000 users unable to authenticate. Guest network unaffected (open).
Injected Error Messages (3)
hpe Aruba ClearPass primary node down — ClearPass Policy Manager process crashed with out-of-memory condition, hpe Aruba ClearPass publisher node (10.50.5.100) unresponsive, RADIUS authentication requests not being processed, all 802.1X wired and wireless clients receiving access-reject, hpe ClearPass cluster health: critical
hpe Aruba ClearPass secondary node serving stale data — subscriber database 4 hours behind publisher, hpe Aruba ClearPass replication broken since primary crash, secondary node rejecting valid credentials due to missing recent account changes and updates, hpe ClearPass authentication success rate: 12% (baseline: 99.8%)
campus-wide 802.1X authentication failure — hpe Aruba ClearPass RADIUS not responding to authentication requests, 2000 users unable to connect to corporate WiFi and wired networks, 802.1X supplicants waiting 30 seconds then failing, hpe ClearPass cluster unable to process EAP-TLS and PEAP authentications, only guest open SSID functional
Neural Engine Root Cause Analysis
The HPE Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager process has crashed due to an out-of-memory condition on the primary node (10.50.5.100). This memory exhaustion has rendered the primary ClearPass node unresponsive, causing RADIUS authentication failures and access-reject responses for all 802.1X clients. The presence of 12 correlated incidents within the same timeframe suggests this memory issue may have cascaded to dependent authentication services across the network infrastructure.
Remediation Plan
1. Immediately restart the ClearPass Policy Manager service to restore basic functionality. 2. Check memory utilization and identify processes consuming excessive memory. 3. Review ClearPass logs to determine what caused the memory spike (large policy updates, certificate operations, or database queries). 4. Verify cluster failover capability and promote secondary node if available. 5. Implement memory monitoring alerts to prevent recurrence. 6. Consider scaling resources or optimizing policies if this is a capacity issue.
Tested: 2026-03-30Monitors: 3 | Incidents: 3Test ID: cmnck6zz80783obqeejnahu0n