CVE-2026-3497

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.

Published: 2026-03-12 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-3497 is rated Moderate Risk (56.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.96%). EPSS rose +1.90% 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-2026-3497

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 0.06% 1.96% +1.90%
2 2026-06-03 0.03% 0.06% +0.03%
3 2026-03-21 — 0.03% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-3497

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.9 4.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/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 Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:N)
No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:N)
No confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:L)
Limited integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:L)
Limited availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N)
No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N)
No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X)
Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked).
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X)
Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:X)
Not evaluated.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:X)
Not evaluated.
Value density (supplemental) (V:X)
Not evaluated.
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:X)
Not evaluated.
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:X)
Not evaluated.
 — — [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-3497

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-3497

GHSA-wcpp-3x59-h8vp · Severity: medium — Vulnerability in the OpenSSH GSSAPI delta included in various Linux distributions. This...

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-3497

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-3497 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (openssh), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-3497
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-3497
suse medium CVE-2026-3497 severity moderate: SUSE including 18 source package names (openssh, openssh-8.0p1-28.el8_10, …), 18 product×package rows across 3 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 8, SUSE Liberty Linux 9, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 LTSS EXTREME CORE): Fixed 14, Known Not Affected 4. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-3497/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-3497 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (openssh, openssh-ssh1), 14 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 6, released 4, not-affected 3, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-3497

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-3497

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
canonical ubuntu_linux 25.10 cpe:2.3:a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openbsd openssh — cpe:2.3:a:openbsd:openssh:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 20.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 22.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 24.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-3497

URL Tags
https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-3497 Third Party Advisory
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/12/3 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/12/3 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/14/3 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/14/4 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/18/2 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/18/4 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/18/5 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/18/7 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/04/msg00014.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
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