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OpenVPN ovpn-dco-win CVE-2026-115402

| EUVDEUVD-2026-112136 MEDIUM
Race Condition (CWE-362)
2026-10-28 OpenVPN GHSA-h484-rm8p-m8mw
5.7
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: OpenVPN
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Authenticated unprivileged local access on Windows host
  2. Exploit
    Initiate TCP connect operations on ovpn-dco-win driver
  3. Execution
    Win race condition in connect path
  4. Impact
    Trigger kernel/system crash (denial of service)

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Concurrency control, locking
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

The attacker must already have an unprivileged but authenticated local account with the ability to execute code on a Windows host that is running OpenVPN with the ovpn-dco-win (Data Channel Offload for Windows) kernel driver, in an affected version 0.6.5 through 2.8.13. Exploitation requires winning a race condition in the driver's TCP connect path (reflected as AT:P), so it is timing-dependent and probabilistic rather than guaranteed. Limiting factors: no remote exploitation is possible (AV:L), the ovpn-dco-win driver component must be present and in use (the newer DCO data path, not the legacy tun/tap path), and the impact is confined to availability - a crash - with no confidentiality or integrity effect.

Impact

This is a moderate-severity, low-real-world-priority issue. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N) describes a local attack requiring an authenticated low-privileged account and a specific attack requirement (the race window), with impact limited to availability (VA:H; VC:N/VI:N) - a system crash, not code execution or data exposure. There is no CISA KEV listing, no EPSS score in the provided data, and no public exploit identified; the only reference is the OpenVPN vendor advisory. The vuln.today decision label is 'this_month' (not act_now/emergency), consistent with routine scheduled patching rather than urgent response. The signals are mutually consistent: a local-only, privilege-requiring, availability-only denial of service with no evidence of exploitation reads as a genuine but non-emergency bug. EPSS is absent, so probabilistic exploitation likelihood cannot be quantified from the input.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A low-privileged user already logged in to a Windows host running OpenVPN with the ovpn-dco-win data-channel-offload kernel driver repeatedly triggers TCP connect operations to win a timing race in the connect path, crashing the system. Because the impact is a kernel/system crash, the result is denial of service against the whole machine, affecting all users. No public exploit code was identified at the time of analysis; the race condition (AT:P) means exploitation is probabilistic rather than deterministic.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 28, 2026

Local users holding only low-privileged accounts on a Windows host can crash the entire machine by triggering a race condition in the TCP connect path of OpenVPN's ovpn-dco-win Data Channel Offload kernel driver (versions 0.6.5 through 2.8.13). Impact is availability-only - a system-wide crash - with no effect on confidentiality or integrity, and exploitation requires an existing local account plus winning a timing window, so it is probabilistic rather than deterministic. No public exploit code and no confirmed active exploitation were identified at time of analysis; this is assessed as a moderate-severity, low-real-world-priority issue that should be handled in the normal monthly patch cycle.

RemediationAI

No vendor-released patch version is listed in the data available for this analysis, so the fixed release should be confirmed from the OpenVPN security announcement at https://community.openvpn.net/Security%20Announcements/CVE-2026-115402 and the driver updated as soon as that version is published. As a compensating control, affected hosts can be switched off the DCO data path back to the legacy tap-windows6/tun path, which removes the vulnerable kernel driver from the packet flow entirely - the trade-off is a measurable loss of throughput and higher CPU usage, so this suits high-value endpoints rather than fleets. Because the attacker must already be able to log on locally and execute code, tightening local logon rights on OpenVPN endpoints (removing interactive logon for non-administrative and service accounts) reduces the pool of potential trigger sources at the cost of administrative convenience. Finally, treat repeated unexpected kernel bugchecks (for example Kernel-Power event ID 41 without a corresponding hardware or power cause) on OpenVPN endpoints as a possible sign of abuse of this race and correlate them with local logon activity.

Affected VersionsENISA

ovpn-dco-win 0.6.5 ≤2.8.13

Affected Packages

euvd ovpn_dco_win no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

ovpn-dco-win is OpenVPN's Data Channel Offload driver for Windows, which moves VPN packet processing out of the userspace tun/tap path and into a kernel-mode driver for throughput and latency gains. The flaw is a classic CWE-362 race condition: shared state in the driver's TCP connect path is not correctly serialized, so a local caller that interleaves operations in that path can drive the driver into an inconsistent state and take down the whole operating system (a kernel-level crash rather than an application crash). Both the CVSS 4.0 vector published with the CVE (AT:P) and our independent CVSS 3.1 assessment (AC:H) reflect that the attacker must hit a narrow timing window; the CVE's AV:L and PR:L metrics confirm the attack surface is strictly local and requires only low privileges, and the total absence of C/I impact metrics confirms this is purely a denial-of-service condition. The trigger is confined to the DCO code path; deployments still using the legacy tun/tap data path do not expose this driver code.

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Severity by source

Vendor (OpenVPN) PRIMARY 5.7 MEDIUM
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
vuln.today AI 4.7 MEDIUM

Local-only access by a low-privileged user (AV:L/PR:L); the race condition makes the trigger timing-dependent (AC:H); impact is a system crash, so A:H with C:N/I:N.

3.1 AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (OpenVPN).

CVSS VectorVendor: OpenVPN

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
Present
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Vulnerable system: Confidentiality
None
Vulnerable system: Integrity
None
Vulnerable system: Availability
High
Subsequent system: Confidentiality
None
Subsequent system: Integrity
None
Subsequent system: Availability
None

DescriptionCVE.org

OpenVPN ovpn-dco-win 0.6.5 through 2.8.13 allows unprivileged local users to cause a denial of service (system crash) via a race condition in the TCP connect path.

Threat Intelligence Overview

Prevalence
Medium
Windows DCO kernel driver shipped with OpenVPN 2.6+, not universally enabled
Social Media
1
Sightings
Data Quality
2 sources
Confidence: Low

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS N/A
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Defer
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

28
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +28
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Race conditions occur when multiple concurrent requests exploit the brief time gap between checking a condition and acting upon it (TOCTOU - Time of Check, Time of Use).

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