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CVE-2026-2968· NVD / CVE Program· CNA VulDB

Cesanta Mongoose Poly1305 Authentication Tag tls_chacha20.c mg_chacha20_poly1305_decrypt signature verification

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 11/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.30% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
  • Fixed version: swupdate (Debian:14) 2025.12+dfsg-10.
  • Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 6.3, NVD 2.9.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to swupdate (Debian:14) 2025.12+dfsg-10 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

A vulnerability was detected in Cesanta Mongoose up to 7.20. This impacts the function mg_chacha20_poly1305_decrypt of the file /src/tls_chacha20.c of the component Poly1305 Authentication Tag Handler. The manipulation results in improper verification of cryptographic signature. The attack may be launched remotely. This attack is characterized by high complexity. The exploitability is said to be difficult. The exploit is now public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

LowCVSS 2.9 · v4.0—No exploit Fix available
Published
Feb 23, 2026
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.3% · 21th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

11

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
11 / 40 · 2.9 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.3%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
proof of concept
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · VulDB
6.3
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2026-2968

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
cesantamongoose

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • cesanta mongooseup to 7.20 inclusive

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (VulDB). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Cesanta Mongoose

    • 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 7.10, 7.11 … (+9)affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12swupdatefrom 0—
Debian:14swupdatebefore 2025.12+dfsg-102025.12+dfsg-10

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2019-19307An integer overflow in parse_mqtt in mongoose.c in Cesanta Mongoose 6.16 allows an attacker to achieve remote DoS (infinite loop), or possib
    52Plan
  • CVE-2017-2894An exploitable stack buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the MQTT packet parsing functionality of Cesanta Mongoose 6.8.
    48Plan
  • CVE-2019-12951An issue was discovered in Mongoose before 6.15.
    40Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-2966Feb 22, 2026 · Cesanta Mongoose DNS Transaction ID dns.c mg_sendnsreq random values
    11Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-2967Feb 23, 2026 · Cesanta Mongoose TCP Sequence Number net_builtin.c getpeer verification of source
    11Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-5244Apr 2, 2026 · Cesanta Mongoose TLS 1.3 mongoose.c mg_tls_recv_cert heap-based overflow
    22Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:swupdate2025.12+dfsg-10 · Debian:14Package 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.

EPSS, last 120 days

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.

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

  • CVE-2026-698661 days apartCesanta Mongoose GCM Authentication Tag tls_aes128.c mg_aes_gcm_decrypt signature verification
    11Monitor

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.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.

If successful

Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS vector

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

nvd-secondary

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

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