CVE-2026-14957: Medium severity libreswan Libreswan vulnerability
Libreswan contains a reachable assertion in the X.509 certificate processing path when operating in FIPS mode. After calling CERTExtractPublicKey(), the returned public key is asserted to be non-NULL, although the function may legitimately return NULL if public key extraction fails (for example, when processing a certificate with an RSA exponent of zero). An unauthenticated remote attacker can send a specially crafted CERT payload during an IKEv1 or IKEv2 exchange to trigger the assertion and terminate the daemon, resulting in a denial of service. The issue is only reachable when Libreswan is running in FIPS mode and certificate-based authentication is in use with at least one CA certificate loaded in the Libreswan NSS database; deployments using only Pre-Shared Key (PSK) authentication without loaded CA certificates are not affected.
Affected Software
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of CVE-2026-14957?
The severity of CVE-2026-14957 is classified as medium with a score of 4.
What does CVE-2026-14957 affect?
CVE-2026-14957 affects the Libreswan software when operating in FIPS mode.
What is the primary issue described in CVE-2026-14957?
CVE-2026-14957 describes a reachable assertion in the X.509 certificate processing path which can lead to issues if public key extraction fails.
How can I mitigate the risks associated with CVE-2026-14957?
To mitigate the risks of CVE-2026-14957, ensure that you handle NULL values correctly in the public key extraction process.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-14957?
Information regarding mitigation and potential patches for CVE-2026-14957 should be checked in the official releases or errata from the Libreswan project.