CVE-2026-77206
Published:October 13, 2026
Updated:October 14, 2026
Libreswan's IKEv2 state machine has a null pointer dereference bug in the EAP handling code for authentication. As a result of inconsistency within the IKEv2 state machine code, this bug can be triggered by any IKEv2 connection, even if EAP is not configured at all. The error is caused by a fall-through where it incorrectly dereferences ike->sa.st_eap which is NULL. A malicious IKE_AUTH packet can trigger this bug, meaning the peer does not need to be authenticated. The bug results in a crash and restart of the pluto daemon. No remote code execution is possible. Continued exploitation can cause a denial of service.
Affected Packages
https://github.com/libreswan/libreswan.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) >=v5.1 <v5.3.3Fix Suggestion:
Update to version v5.3.3https://github.com/libreswan/libreswan.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) =v5.4 <v5.4.1Fix Suggestion:
Update to version v5.4.1Related Resources (3)
Do you need more information?
Contact UsCVSS v4
Base Score:
8.7
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Attack Requirements
NONE
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
NONE
Vulnerable System Integrity
NONE
Vulnerable System Availability
HIGH
Subsequent System Confidentiality
NONE
Subsequent System Integrity
NONE
Subsequent System Availability
NONE
CVSS v3
Base Score:
7.5
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Weakness Type (CWE)
NULL Pointer Dereference