CVE-2026-94453
IKEv2 Use-After-Free bug when using IKE-over-TCP
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- libreswan
Description
Libreswan's pluto daemon has a use-after-free vulnerability when a client connecting using IKE over TCP closes the connection and another packet (retransmit or malicious) is received for the same tuple. IKE state is retained in memory after the client closes the connection, storing a pointer to iface_endpoint inside ike_sa.sa->st_iface_endpoint. Once this invalid pointer is used, the daemon crashes and restarts. This vulnerability can be triggered before the remote peer has authenticated itself. Continued exploitation can lead to a denial of service. Remote code execution could be possible. The IKE over TCP option is not enabled by default; only configurations that contain listen-tcp=yes are affected.
Timeline
ID reserved
By libreswan
- 22 days later
· 22 days later
Published
- 3 days later
· 3 days later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| libreswanCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Awaiting Analysis | 3.1 | High7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.45% · top 60% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.5.
Weakness
Affected products
The Libreswan Project · libreswan
- affected 4.0 – ≤ 5.3.2
- affected 5.4 – ≤ 5.4
- unaffected 5.3.3
- unaffected 5.4.1
What to do
Solution: Upgrade to libreswan 5.3.3 or 5.4.1 or later. Patches are available at https://libreswan.org/security/CVE-2026-94453/
Workaround: To temporarily disable IKE over TCP, set listen-tcp=no.
Exploitation: No known exploitation in the wild. Exploitation requires IKE over TCP to be enabled (listen-tcp=yes). The vulnerability can be triggered remotely without authentication.
References (2)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2026-94453)Record last updated .