wolfSSH SSH client accepts unsolicited forwarded-tcpip channel opens without an authorization check
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-81535 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | wolfSSL |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-10-07 03:16:59 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-10-13 17:36:15 UTC |
| Description | In wolfSSH through 1.5.0 built with --enable-fwd, DoChannelOpen() in src/internal.c gates only direct-tcpip channel opens with the forwarding policy callback. forwarded-tcpip opens are admitted without an authorization check and are not capped in number, allowing a malicious SSH peer to make an endpoint allocate unbounded per-channel buffers for forwarding channels the application never authorized. A client also does not check a forwarded-tcpip open against the forwards it registered with a tcpip-forward request, as RFC 4254 section 7.2 requires, so a malicious server can open forwarding channels for addresses and ports the client never asked it to forward. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v4.0 6.3 MEDIUM from [email protected]
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/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
EPSS: 0.002760000 probability, percentile 0.185810000 (date 2026-10-13)
Problem Types: CWE-862 | CWE-863 | CWE-862 CWE-862 Missing Authorization | CWE-863 CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | [email protected] | Secondary | 6.3 | MEDIUM | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/C... |
| 4.0 | CNA | CVSS | 6.3 | MEDIUM | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Primary | 9.1 | CRITICAL | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
CVSS v4.0 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
LowAttack Requirements
PresentPrivileges Required
NoneUser Interaction
NoneConfidentiality
NoneIntegrity
NoneAvailability
LowSub Conf.
NoneSub Integrity
NoneSub Availability
NoneCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/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
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
LowPrivileges Required
NoneUser Interaction
NoneScope
UnchangedConfidentiality
HighIntegrity
HighAvailability
NoneCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | WolfSSL Inc. | WolfSSH | affected 1.4.8 1.5.0 semver | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssh/commit/616eb681e70759c30c3ba158f2b18d7bd954def8 | [email protected] | github.com | Patch |
| github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssh/commit/e396a0a4b6b367f10270287446a4be0071742b5c | [email protected] | github.com | Patch |
| github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssh/commit/79a7f299337a28aa561409688a268d0efe6e295c | [email protected] | github.com | Patch |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: zhangph (GitHub afldl) (en)
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.