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HIGH

CVE-2026-3497

CVSS v3

7.5

HIGH

EPSS Score

1.3 %

exploit probability, as of 2026-10-15

CISA KEV

No

known exploited

Exploitation

—

SSVC status

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Affected and fixed versions

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2026-3497 Red Hat Product Security950 products fixed

    openssh: OpenSSH GSSAPI: Information disclosure or denial of service due to uninitialized variables

  • RHSA-2026:25096 Red Hat Product Security2 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat AI Inference Server Model Optimization Tools 3.2.2 (cuda)

  • RHSA-2026:21695 Red Hat Product Security1 product fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.12.91 bug fix and security update

  • RHSA-2026:21690 Red Hat Product Security1 product fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.13.67 bug fix and security update

  • RHSA-2026:20087 Red Hat Product Security4 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.16.63 bug fix and security update

  • RHSA-2026:20040 Red Hat Product Security4 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.19.32 bug fix and security update

24 more advisories

Full record on NVD

Description

Vulnerability in the OpenSSH GSSAPI delta included in various Linux distributions. This vulnerability affects the GSSAPI patches added by various Linux distributions and does not affect the OpenSSH upstream project itself. The usage of sshpkt_disconnect() on an error, which does not terminate the process, allows an attacker to send an unexpected GSSAPI message type during the GSSAPI key exchange to the server, which will call the underlying function and continue the execution of the program without setting the related connection variables. As the variables are not initialized to NULL the code later accesses those uninitialized variables, accessing random memory, which could lead to undefined behavior. The recommended workaround is to use ssh_packet_disconnect() instead, which does terminate the process. The impact of the vulnerability depends heavily on the compiler flag hardening configuration.

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published
2026-03-12
Last Modified
2026-10-15

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-3497?

Vulnerability in the OpenSSH GSSAPI delta included in various Linux distributions. This vulnerability affects the GSSAPI patches added by various Linux distributions and does not affect the OpenSSH upstream project itself. The usage of sshpkt_disconnect() on an error, which does not terminate the process, allows an attacker to send an unexpected GSSAPI message type during the GSSAPI key exchange to the server, which will call the underlying function and continue the execution of the program without setting the related connection variables. As the variables are not initialized to NULL the code later accesses those uninitialized variables, accessing random memory, which could lead to undefined behavior. The recommended workaround is to use ssh_packet_disconnect() instead, which does terminate the process. The impact of the vulnerability depends heavily on the compiler flag hardening configuration.

Is CVE-2026-3497 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2026-3497 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 1.3% on 2026-10-15, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-3497?

CVE-2026-3497 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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