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wolfSSH server accepts server-to-client DH group exchange messages from an unauthenticated client, causing pre-authentication primality-test CPU exhaustion and key exchange role confusion

Type: advisorySource: Official CVE List1 source record

src/internal.c in wolfSSL wolfSSH through 1.5.0 admits the server-to-client Diffie-Hellman group exchange messages SSH_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP (31) and SSH_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY (33) when a server receives them from an unauthenticated client. IsMessageAllowedServer() applies no direction check to the key exchange message range: when the peer is keying and no particular message is expected, which is the state a server is in for the whole window after it processes the client's KEXINIT because nothing sets handshake->expectMsgId there, the function falls out of its expectation branch without a verdict and reaches a numeric bound that admits every message id from 30 through 34. A client that negotiates diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256 and then sends message 31 makes the server run the client-side handler DoKexDhGexGroup(), which validates the attacker-supplied group with two 8-round Miller-Rabin primality tests, one on p and one on (p-1)/2, on a value of up to 8192 bits. The handler then returns success: the server stores the attacker's prime and generator, generates a Diffie-Hellman key pair in the attacker's group, and sends the client-role message SSH_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT (32) back to the attacker. Published RFC 3526 safe primes are the worst-case input and cost the attacker nothing to obtain. The primality validation was added in 1.5.0; versions from 1.2.0 through 1.4.22 admit the same message and enter the same client-role path without the primality cost. Message 33 is admitt

Announced Source revision 1
Original source ↗

CVE-2026-84897

Primary source · Revision 1

Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.

Security context

Source reference: cve:CVE-2026-84897

wolfSSH

Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/0/product

Affected versions
Not stated in this record
Fixed versions
Not stated in this record
Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

Structured affected-version data

Original package identities and version rules from this source.

[
  {
    "repo": "https://github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssh",
    "vendor": "wolfSSL Inc.",
    "modules": [
      "key exchange"
    ],
    "product": "wolfSSH",
    "versions": [
      {
        "status": "affected",
        "changes": [
          {
            "at": "1.6.0",
            "status": "unaffected"
          }
        ],
        "version": "1.2.0",
        "versionType": "semver",
        "lessThanOrEqual": "1.5.0"
      }
    ],
    "programFiles": [
      "src/internal.c"
    ],
    "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
    "programRoutines": [
      {
        "name": "IsMessageAllowedServer"
      },
      {
        "name": "DoKexDhGexGroup"
      },
      {
        "name": "ValidateKexDhGexGroup"
      }
    ]
  }
]
Related CVEs
CVE-2026-84897

Source reference: /cveMetadata/cveId

Publisher severity

medium

Source reference: /containers/cna/metrics

Event
#12159 · Revision 1
Added to Heist Feed
Publisher date
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