CVE-2025-26466
MEDIUMEPSS 98th pctlDescription
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.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Very high risk: more likely to be exploited than 98% of all known CVEs.
References
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-26466
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2345043
- https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2025/q1/144
- https://www.qualys.com/2025/02/18/openssh-mitm-dos.txt
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Feb/18
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/7
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/8
- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1237041
- 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.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2025-26466-detection-script-memory-consumption-vulnerability-in-openssh
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2025-26466-mitigation-script-memory-consumption-vulnerability-in-openssh
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Start freeThis product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-02-10.