CVE-2026-66035

libssh2 Heap Buffer Overflow via ETM Cipher Negotiation

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: July 24, 2026 at 04:45 PM UTC
Updated: July 30, 2026 at 06:22 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLIBSSH2

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.5%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

libssh2 through 1.11.1, fixed in commit 42e33d8, contains a pre-authentication heap buffer overflow vulnerability that allows a malicious SSH server to corrupt heap metadata in any connecting client by sending a packet with a packet_length smaller than the cipher's block size during Encrypt-then-MAC cipher negotiation. In the fullpacket() function in src/transport.c, the ETM path allocates a buffer of packet_length bytes but copies blocksize minus one bytes via memcpy, causing an overflow that on 32-bit glibc writes attacker-controlled bytes into an adjacent chunk's SIZE field, enabling tcache bin confusion, overlapping live objects, and function pointer overwrite during the session handshake before authentication.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v ≤ 1.11.1
Vendor states this is fixed in 42e33d81577ed4b95d4b4f6f845e5ee8efe5eeb4 (unaffected)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.5HIGHVulnCheck
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-122

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