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HIGH

IKEv2 Denial of Service via RSA-SHA1 (PKCS#1 RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5) authentication payload

Published Jul 2, 2026

Description

Libreswan, via the function RSA_authenticate_hash_signature_pkcs1_1_5_rsa(), did not correctly verify the DER encoding of the ASN.1 digest when the IKEv2 AUTH payload was encoded using RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5 (RFC 8017). A remote attacker can use a variation on the Bleichenbacher attack to forge the AUTH payload when small public exponents are used (e.g., e=3), leading to impersonation. Additionally, a remote attacker, by encoding a shorter than expected hash in the AUTH payload, could trigger an assertion leading to denial-of-service. The daemon aborts and restarts; continued exploitation causes sustained denial of service. Remote code execution is not possible. X.509 certificate verifications of the remote IKE peer are not affected.

Affected products

Remediation

Vendor solution

Upgrade to libreswan 5.3.1 or later. Patches for libreswan 4.15 and 5.3 are available at https://libreswan.org/security/CVE-2026-50722/

Red Hat statement

Red Hat Product Security rates this as having an Moderate security impact. This Moderate severity rating reflects the deployment reality on modern enterprise platforms. The worst-case authentication bypass vector is effectively non-exploitable due to system-wide Crypto-Policies that strictly block the weak RSA exponents required for the attack. Furthermore, the resulting Denial of Service is limited to a controlled process abort via an internal assertion check. Because the Libreswan service is natively managed by systemd with automatic fault-recovery rules enabled by default, the daemon will instantly restart following a crash. Consequently, a sustained outage requires a continuous and high-volume malicious packet flood, significantly lowering the real-world operational risk.

Red Hat mitigation

If upgrading to Libreswan is not immediately feasible, this vulnerability can be mitigated by enforcing modern signature algorithms, which effectively prevents Libreswan from falling back to the vulnerable legacy parser logic. Explicitly configure your authby (or leftauth/rightauth) parameters in /etc/ipsec.conf to exclusively permit ECDSA and RSASSA-PSS: ```authby=ecdsa,rsa-sha2``` Note: Applying this mitigation will drop compatibility with native Windows VPN clients that do not support RSASSA-PSS.

Weaknesses (2)

References (10)

Change history (126)
  1. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  2. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  3. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  4. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  5. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  6. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  7. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  8. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  9. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  10. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  11. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  12. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  13. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  14. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  15. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  16. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  17. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  18. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  19. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  20. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  21. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  22. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  23. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  24. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  25. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  26. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  27. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  28. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  29. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  30. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  31. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 8.1 to 7.5

  32. MITRE
    • CVSS vector

      changed from CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H to CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

    • CVSS score

      changed from 7.5 to 8.1

Sources

CVE.org / MITRE

Status PUBLISHED
Assigner libreswan
Published Jul 2, 2026
Updated Jul 7, 2026
Reserved Jun 5, 2026

CISA Vulnrichment

Updated Jul 6, 2026

NVD

Status Analyzed
Modified Jul 9, 2026

Red Hat

Severity Moderate
Public date Jun 24, 2026
Bugzilla 2494148

ENISA EUVD

Assigner libreswan
Published Jul 2, 2026
Updated Jul 7, 2026

GitHub

No data