CVE-2025-26466
Openssh: denial-of-service in openssh
Exploitation likely. EPSS gives it a 40% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. A vendor fix is available.
What to do
The vendor has published a fix. Version details are below where the sources state them.
What it is
From the CVE record
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.
In plain language
No plain-language summary for this CVE yet.
Exploitation
Where each signal puts this CVE on the scale from published to confirmed exploited.
- CISA KEV
Not in the catalog. CISA has not confirmed exploitation.
- Public exploits
No public exploit or proof of concept found in the sources we track.
- EPSS
40% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the 99th percentile of scored CVEs.
Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST.org. A probability, not a confirmation.
Lifecycle
9 events over 487 days, from the signal feeds we watch.
- Patch availableworkaround available, record updated
- OpenVAS check added
- EPSS band changehigh → moderate
- EPSS band changemoderate → high
- Publishedweakness classified, att&ck mapped
Affected products
- openSUSE TumbleweedOperating Systems / linux-distro
- Suse Linux Enterprise DesktopOperating Systems / linux-distro
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP ApplicationsOperating Systems / linux-distro
- SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance ComputingOperating Systems / linux-distro
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for BasesystemOperating Systems / linux-distro
- OpenSUSE LeapOperating Systems / linux-distro
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop ApplicationsOperating Systems / linux-distro
And 9 more affected products. See all after sign-in
Technical detail
CVSS 3.1 vector
Open in the CVSS calculatorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Scored 5.9 by NVD.
How it is reached
- Attack Vector NetworkExploitable remotely over the network without any special conditions
- Attack Complexity HighRequires specific conditions like a race condition or non-default configuration
- Privileges Required NoneNo authentication required — anyone can exploit this
- User Interaction NoneNo user interaction needed — fully automated exploitation
Scope
- Scope UnchangedImpact is limited to the vulnerable component itself
Impact if exploited
- Confidentiality NoneNo confidentiality impact
- Integrity NoneNo integrity impact
- Availability HighTotal denial of service — the component is completely unavailable
Weaknesses
ATT&CK techniques
Mapped from the weaknesses above (CWE to ATT&CK), not observed in attacks.
Sources
References in the record
- suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-26466.html&
- ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-26466&
- qualys.com/2025/02/18/openssh-mitm-dos.txt
And 27 more references. See all after sign-in
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