IKEv2 misconfiguration can cause libreswan to abort and restart
The Libreswan Project was notified of an issue causing libreswan to restart under some IKEv2 retransmit scenarios when a connection is configured to use PreSharedKeys (authby=secret) and the connection cannot find a matching configured secret. When such a connection is automatically added on startup using the auto= keyword, it can cause repeated crashes leading to a Denial of Service.
- Published
- Mar 11, 2024
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.9% · 60th percentile
- CWE
- —
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Report tools
Action score
26
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 26 / 40 · 6.5 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.9%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
Affected systems
—
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (libreswan). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
The Libreswan Project (www.libreswan.org) libreswan
- 5.0not affected
- 3.0 and later · up to and including 4.1not affected · semver
- 4.2 and later · up to and including 4.12affected · semver
Package-level exposure
OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| AlmaLinux:8 | libreswan | before 4.12-2.el8_9.2.alma.1 | 4.12-2.el8_9.2.alma.1 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | libreswan | before 4.12-2.el9_4.alma.1 | 4.12-2.el9_4.alma.1 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | libreswan | before 4.12-1.el9_3.1.alma.1 | 4.12-1.el9_3.1.alma.1 |
| Debian:12 | libreswan | all versions | — |
| Debian:13 | libreswan | before 4.14-1 | 4.14-1 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | libreswan | before 0:4.12-2.el8_9.2 | 0:4.12-2.el8_9.2 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | libreswan-debuginfo | before 0:4.12-2.el8_9.2 | 0:4.12-2.el8_9.2 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | libreswan-debugsource | before 0:4.12-2.el8_9.2 | 0:4.12-2.el8_9.2 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | libreswan | before 0:4.12-2.el9_4 | 0:4.12-2.el9_4 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | libreswan | before 0:4.12-1.el9_3.1 | 0:4.12-1.el9_3.1 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | libreswan-debuginfo | before 0:4.12-2.el9_4 | 0:4.12-2.el9_4 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | libreswan-debuginfo | before 0:4.12-1.el9_3.1 | 0:4.12-1.el9_3.1 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | libreswan-debugsource | before 0:4.12-2.el9_4 | 0:4.12-2.el9_4 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | libreswan-debugsource | before 0:4.12-1.el9_3.1 | 0:4.12-1.el9_3.1 |
| Red Hat:openshift:4.16::el9 | libreswan | before 0:4.6-3.el9_0.3 | 0:4.6-3.el9_0.3 |
| Red Hat:openshift:4.16::el9 | libreswan-debuginfo | before 0:4.6-3.el9_0.3 | 0:4.6-3.el9_0.3 |
| Red Hat:openshift:4.16::el9 | libreswan-debugsource | before 0:4.6-3.el9_0.3 | 0:4.6-3.el9_0.3 |
| Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.6::appstream | libreswan | before 0:4.5-1.el8_6.2 | 0:4.5-1.el8_6.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.6::appstream | libreswan-debuginfo | before 0:4.5-1.el8_6.2 | 0:4.5-1.el8_6.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.6::appstream | libreswan-debugsource | before 0:4.5-1.el8_6.2 | 0:4.5-1.el8_6.2 |
| Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.8::appstream | libreswan | before 0:4.9-3.el8_8.1 | 0:4.9-3.el8_8.1 |
| Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.8::appstream | libreswan-debuginfo | before 0:4.9-3.el8_8.1 | 0:4.9-3.el8_8.1 |
| Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.8::appstream | libreswan-debugsource | before 0:4.9-3.el8_8.1 | 0:4.9-3.el8_8.1 |
| Red Hat:rhel_eus:9.2::appstream | libreswan | before 0:4.9-5.el9_2.1 | 0:4.9-5.el9_2.1 |
+4
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| almalinux:libreswan | 4.12-2.el8_9.2.alma.1 · AlmaLinux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| debian:libreswan | 4.14-1 · Debian:13 | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:libreswan | 0:4.6-3.el9_0.3 · Red Hat:openshift:4.16::el9 | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:libreswan-debuginfo | 0:4.6-3.el9_0.3 · Red Hat:openshift:4.16::el9 | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:libreswan-debugsource | 0:4.6-3.el9_0.3 · Red Hat:openshift:4.16::el9 | Package registry (OSV) |
| rocky linux:libreswan | 0:4.12-2.el8_9.2 · Rocky Linux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
- Andrew Vaughnfinder
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- A low-privileged account is enough.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
—
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
nvd-secondary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
- Fix✗ → ✓
For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →
References
- libreswan.org/security/CVE-2024-2357
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/EJZJYFHKBIJ4ZK5GAWWFFR3AKJS6O5JX/
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HEM46ALKF7NG6CAUKZ7KQERVOHWQIQKY/
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TVQ7MZY6LFFGRWAJNTKKN2VSEFS2VPAR/
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.