CVE-2026-84897: wolfSSH server accepts server-to-client DH group exchange messages from an unauthenticated client, causing pre-authentication primality-test CPU exhaustion and key exchange role confusion
src/internal.c in wolfSSL wolfSSH through 1.5.0 admits the server-to-client Diffie-Hellman group exchange messages SSHMSGKEXDHGEXGROUP (31) and SSHMSGKEXDHGEXREPLY (33) when a server receives them from an unauthenticated client. IsMessageAllowedServer() applies no direction check to the key exchange message range: when the peer is keying and no particular message is expected, which is the state a server is in for the whole window after it processes the client's KEXINIT because nothing sets handshake->expectMsgId there, the function falls out of its expectation branch without a verdict and reaches a numeric bound that admits every message id from 30 through 34. A client that negotiates diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256 and then sends message 31 makes the server run the client-side handler DoKexDhGexGroup(), which validates the attacker-supplied group with two 8-round Miller-Rabin primality tests, one on p and one on (p-1)/2, on a value of up to 8192 bits. The handler then returns success: the server stores the attacker's prime and generator, generates a Diffie-Hellman key pair in the attacker's group, and sends the client-role message SSHMSGKEXDHGEXINIT (32) back to the attacker. Published RFC 3526 safe primes are the worst-case input and cost the attacker nothing to obtain. The primality validation was added in 1.5.0; versions from 1.2.0 through 1.4.22 admit the same message and enter the same client-role path without the primality cost. Message 33 is admitted as well, but on a server it is rejected before any cryptography because no public key check callback is registered, so it carries no comparable cost. Builds that define WOLFSSHNODHGEXSHA256, which is implied by WOLFSSHNODH or NOSHA256, are unaffected.
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Configuration
Build wolfSSH with WOLFSSH_NO_DH_GEX_SHA256 defined to disable diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256; WOLFSSH_NO_DH or NO_SHA256 also implies this setting.
wolfSSH WOLFSSH_NO_DH_GEX_SHA256 = defined
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Which deployments are exposed?
wolfSSL wolfSSH servers through version 1.5.0 are affected when an unauthenticated client can negotiate diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256.
Does exploitation require client authentication?
No. The malformed key-exchange messages are accepted during the pre-authentication window after the server processes the client’s KEXINIT message.
What can an attacker cause during exploitation?
An attacker can supply a group value up to 8192 bits, causing the server to perform two 8-round Miller-Rabin primality tests. The server then treats the supplied group as valid, generates a Diffie-Hellman key pair in it, and sends a client-role key-exchange message.