+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #744373 +++

ipa-server leaks KDC password and master password via command line arguments, 
in krbinstance.py --> (in both IPAv1 and IPAv2) 
the following code can be found 

class KrbInstance(service.Service):
...
..

    def __create_instance(self, replica=False):
        self.__template_file("/var/kerberos/krb5kdc/kdc.conf")
        self.__template_file("/etc/krb5.conf")
        self.__template_file("/usr/share/ipa/html/krb5.ini")
        self.__template_file("/usr/share/ipa/html/krb.con")
        self.__template_file("/usr/share/ipa/html/krbrealm.con")

        if not replica:
            #populate the directory with the realm structure
            args = ["kdb5_ldap_util", "-D", "uid=kdc,cn=sysaccounts,cn=etc,"+self.suffix, "-w", self.kdc_password, "create", "-s", "-P", self.master_password, "-r", self.realm, "-subtrees", self.suffix, "-sscope", "sub"]
            try:
                ipautil.run(args, nolog=(self.kdc_password, self.master_password))
            except ipautil.CalledProcessError, e:
                print "Failed to populate the realm structure in kerberos", e


so if the code under 
        if not replica:
gets executed the kdc_password and master_password will be leaked on the system (one should be able to use ps -ef to view the leaked  password information).

kdb5_ldap_util recommends against the use of -P and -w.
I haven't verified this bug as I do not have a working copy of Fedora or RHEL to test on.

--- Additional comment from dpal on 2011-10-08 11:22:20 EDT ---

Upstream ticket:
https://fedorahosted.org/freeipa/ticket/1948