CVE-2026-14957FIPS mode assertion failure via malicious CERT payload
Updated under an hour ago ()
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It affects The Libreswan Project libreswan. Add what you run to find out whether that includes you.
No exploitation reported and no EPSS estimate yet.
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In FIPS mode, Libreswan's add_decoded_cert() function calls CERT_ExtractPublicKey() and asserts that the result is not NULL. However, CERT_ExtractPublicKey() returns NULL when public key extraction fails, for example if the RSA exponent is set to 0. A remote attacker can send a malformed X.509 certificate in a CERT payload to trigger the assertion, causing the pluto daemon to abort and restart. Continued exploitation causes a denial of service. No remote code execution is possible. Both IKEv1 and IKEv2 are affected. The vulnerability is only exploitable when both the OS and libreswan are running in FIPS mode and at least one CA certificate is loaded. The CERT payload is processed before peer authentication, so no credentials are needed to exploit this. Configurations using only PreSharedKey (PSK) authentication with no CA certificates loaded in the NSS database are not vulnerable.
- CVSS
- 7.5 HIGH (v3.1, CNA)CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-617, CWE-252
- Known exploited
- Not in CISA's KEV catalog
- EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days)
- Not loaded for this CVE
- Assigned by
- libreswan
- NVD analysis
- Deferred
- Record last updated
- Sep 2, 2026
- First seen by InfoSec Signals
- Oct 9, 2026
Affected products
The Libreswan Project libreswan libreswan_project:libreswan (from the name) | from 3.0 through 5.3.1; 5.3.2 not affected | CNA record |
References
- https://libreswan.org/security/CVE-2026-14957/CVE-2026-14957.txtvendor-advisory
- https://libreswan.org/security/CVE-2026-14957/patch
The CVE record on cve.org NVD's entry
The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.