CVE-2025-26466
Published: February 19, 2025Last modified: August 15, 2025
Description
A flaw was found in the OpenSSH package. For each ping packet the SSH server receives, a pong packet is allocated in a memory buffer and stored in a queue of packages. It is only freed when the server/client key exchange has finished. A malicious client may keep sending such packages, leading to an uncontrolled increase in memory consumption on the server side. Consequently, the server may become unavailable, resulting in a denial of service attack.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score | 5.9 |
| Attack Vector | NETWORK |
| Attack complexity | HIGH |
| Privileges required | NONE |
| User interaction | NONE |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | NONE |
| Integrity impact | NONE |
| Availability impact | HIGH |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
Status
| Product | Release | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaquita Linux | 23 LTS | openssh | Not affected (9.1_p1-r3) |
| 25 LTS | openssh | Not affected (10.0_p1-r7) | |
| Stream | openssh | Fixed (9.9_p2-r0) | |
| Hardened Containers | 23 LTS | openssh | Not affected (9.1_p1-r3) |
| Stream | openssh | Fixed (9.9_p2-r0) |
References
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Feb/18
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/7
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/8
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-26466
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2345043
- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1237041
- https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2025/q1/144
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-26466
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250228-0002/
- https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-26466
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/02/18/1
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/02/18/4
- https://www.qualys.com/2025/02/18/openssh-mitm-dos.txt