CVE-2021-3634

Description

A flaw has been found in libssh. The SSH protocol keeps track of two shared secrets during the lifetime of the session. One of them is called secret_hash and the other session_id. Initially, both of them are the same, but after key re-exchange, previous session_id is kept and used as an input to new secret_hash. Historically, both of these buffers had shared length variable, which worked as long as these buffers were same. But the key re-exchange operation can also change the key exchange method, which can be based on hash of different size, eventually creating "secret_hash" of different size than the session_id has. This becomes an issue when the session_id memory is zeroed or when it is used again during second key re-exchange.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score3.56.5N/A
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkN/A
Attack ComplexityLowLowN/A
Privileges RequiredLowLowN/A
User InteractionRequiredNoneN/A
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityNoneNoneN/A
Integrity ImpactNoneNoneN/A
Availability ImpactLowHighN/A

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Integrity

Technical Impact: Modify Memory; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

Write operations could cause memory corruption. In some cases, an adversary can modify control data such as return addresses in order to execute unexpected code.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

Attempting to access out-of-range, invalid, or unauthorized memory could cause the product to crash.

Other

Technical Impact: Unexpected State

Subsequent write operations can produce undefined or unexpected results.

Frequently Asked Questions

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