CVE-2005-4178

Buffer overflow in Dropbear server before 0.47 allows authenticated users to execute arbitrary code via unspecified inputs that cause insufficient memory to be allocated due to an incorrect expression that does not enforce the proper order of operations.

Published: 2005-12-12 Last update: 2026-04-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2005-4178 is rated Moderate Risk (58.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.44%). EPSS rose +1.72% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2005-4178

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 1.72% 3.44% +1.72%
2 2025-06-29 2.04% 1.72% -0.32%
3 2025-03-30 — 2.04% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2005-4178

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2005-4178

OS Trackers for CVE-2005-4178

vendor priority summary link
debian high CVE-2005-4178 high priority: Debian including 1 source packages (dropbear), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2005-4178
gentoo high CVE-2005-4178: 1 GLSA(s) (200512-13), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/dropbear); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2005-4178
ubuntu medium CVE-2005-4178 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (dropbear), 4 status rows across 4 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, upstream): not-affected 3, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2005-4178

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2005-4178

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
dropbear_ssh_project dropbear_ssh < 0.47 cpe:2.3:a:dropbear_ssh_project:dropbear_ssh:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 3.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 3.1 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:3.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2005-4178

cvelogic Threat Intelligence