CVE-2026-3497

CVE Details

Release Date:	2026-03-12
Impact:	Important	What is this?

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.

See more information about CVE-2026-3497 from MITRE CVE dictionary and NIST NVD

NOTE: The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 metrics

Base Score:	8.2
Vector String:	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H
Version:	3.1
Attack Vector:	Network
Attack Complexity:	Low
Privileges Required:	None
User Interaction:	None
Scope:	Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact:	Low
Integrity Impact:	None
Availability Impact:	High

Errata information

Platform	Errata	Release Date
Oracle Linux version 10 (openssh)	ELSA-2026-6463	2026-04-02
Oracle Linux version 8 (openssh)	ELSA-2026-6461	2026-04-02
Oracle Linux version 9 (openssh)	ELSA-2026-6462	2026-04-03