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libwebsockets EUVDEUVD-2026-34034

| CVE-2026-10650 MEDIUM
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)
2026-06-02 VulDB GHSA-23jv-8gf4-7r88
5.5
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: VulDB
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Attack ChainAIDerived

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

  1. Access
    Connect to SSH port of libwebsockets service
  2. Delivery
    Send crafted SSH packet with oversized msg_len field
  3. Exploit
    Trigger unbounded heap allocation in lws_ssh_parse_plaintext
  4. Execution
    Exhaust server memory
  5. Impact
    Cause denial of service

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource consumption limits
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact

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

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires the target application to be compiled with the optional protocol_lws_ssh_base SSH server plugin enabled - this plugin is not active in default libwebsockets builds, so the majority of libwebsockets deployments are not vulnerable. The SSH service must be network-accessible to the attacker. No authentication is required (CVSS PR:N) and no user interaction is needed (CVSS UI:N). Exploitation is limited exclusively to the SSH packet parsing code path; other libwebsockets handlers (WebSocket, HTTP/2) are unaffected. The impact is bounded to availability only (A:L per CVSS), with no confidentiality or integrity risk confirmed. Environments that do not use the SSH plugin, or that firewall SSH access to trusted hosts only, face no practical exposure.

Impact

The CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.3 (Medium) reflects a network-reachable (AV:N), low-complexity (AC:L), unauthenticated (PR:N), no-interaction (UI:N) attack with limited availability impact (A:L) and no confidentiality or integrity impact. The temporal modifiers raise the operational risk profile: E:P confirms a public proof-of-concept exists, RL:O confirms an official remediation is released, and RC:C marks the vulnerability as confirmed. No EPSS score was provided in the intelligence feed, so exploitation probability cannot be precisely quantified; however, the availability of a functional Python PoC script on GitHub significantly lowers attacker skill requirements. The absence of a CISA KEV listing suggests no confirmed mass exploitation, which is consistent with the narrow attack surface - only deployments using the optional SSH plugin are affected, excluding the majority of libwebsockets users who rely on WebSocket or HTTP functionality. The A:L severity rating implies partial rather than complete service disruption, though repeated rapid requests could compound into full resource exhaustion depending on host memory constraints.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An unauthenticated remote attacker connects to the SSH port of a service built on libwebsockets with the SSH plugin enabled and transmits a crafted SSH packet in which msg_len is set to a value exceeding available server memory. The unpatched lws_ssh_parse_plaintext function attempts the allocation unconditionally, exhausting heap memory and causing the service to become unresponsive or crash. A functional Python proof-of-concept is publicly available at https://github.com/biniamf/pocs/tree/main/libwebsockets_sshd-parse-ic-unbounded-alloc, enabling low-skill exploitation.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.1% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Jun 02, 2026

Unbounded memory allocation in warmcat libwebsockets up to 4.5.8 allows remote unauthenticated attackers to exhaust server heap resources by sending SSH packets with a crafted oversized msg_len value, resulting in denial of service. The vulnerability is confined to deployments using the optional SSH server plugin (protocol_lws_ssh_base) and carries a CVSS 5.3 Medium rating with no confidentiality or integrity impact. A public proof-of-concept exploit exists and the CVSS temporal vector confirms exploit availability (E:P) and an official patch (RL:O); no CISA KEV listing indicates no confirmed widespread in-the-wild exploitation as of the analysis date.

RemediationAI

Apply upstream patch commit 3f9f0c6ecaf0e6f3f219d30632c5d1f2479d7498 from the libwebsockets repository (https://github.com/warmcat/libwebsockets/commit/3f9f0c6ecaf0e6f3f219d30632c5d1f2479d7498), which enforces a 256 KB maximum SSH packet size in lws_ssh_parse_plaintext. A specific tagged release version incorporating this fix has not been independently confirmed from available data - verify the commit is present in your installed version by inspecting the git log or the sshd.c source for the LWS_SSH_MAX_PACKET_SIZE constant before assuming coverage. As a compensating control where immediate patching is not feasible, disabling or omitting the protocol_lws_ssh_base SSH plugin from the build entirely eliminates the attack surface, at the trade-off of losing SSH functionality. Restricting network access to the SSH port via firewall rules to trusted source IP ranges reduces exposure for authorized clients but does not eliminate the vulnerability. The VulDB advisory is available at https://vuldb.com/cve/CVE-2026-10650.

Affected VersionsENISA

libwebsockets 4.5.2
libwebsockets 4.5.3
libwebsockets 4.5.6
libwebsockets 4.5.5
libwebsockets 4.5.7
libwebsockets 4.5.0
libwebsockets 4.5.1
libwebsockets 4.5.8
libwebsockets 4.5.4

Affected Packages

euvd libwebsockets 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

libwebsockets is a lightweight C library maintained by warmcat that implements WebSocket, HTTP/2, and optionally SSH server functionality via plugin modules. The vulnerable code resides in plugins/protocol_lws_ssh_base/sshd.c, specifically within the lws_ssh_parse_plaintext function responsible for parsing incoming SSH plaintext packets. CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) is the root cause: prior to the patch, the function accepted the attacker-supplied msg_len field from SSH packet headers without enforcing any upper bound, allowing arbitrarily large heap allocation attempts. The upstream fix (commit 3f9f0c6ecaf0e6f3f219d30632c5d1f2479d7498) introduces a compile-time constant LWS_SSH_MAX_PACKET_SIZE of 256 KB (262,144 bytes) and validates msg_len before allocation proceeds, bailing out on oversized packets. CPE cpe:2.3:a:warmcat:libwebsockets:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* covers all versions through 4.5.8.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Vendor (VulDB) PRIMARY 5.5 MEDIUM
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P
SUSE 5.3 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Red Hat 5.3 MEDIUM

Primary rating from Vendor (VulDB).

CVSS VectorVendor: VulDB

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

Lifecycle Timeline

1
CVSS changed
Jun 02, 2026 - 22:22 NVD
5.3 (MEDIUM) 5.5 (MEDIUM)

DescriptionCVE.org

A flaw has been found in warmcat libwebsockets up to 4.5.8. This issue affects the function lws_ssh_parse_plaintext of the file plugins/protocol_lws_ssh_base/sshd.c of the component SSH Protocol Handler. Executing a manipulation of the argument msg_len can lead to resource consumption. The attack may be launched remotely. The exploit has been published and may be used. This patch is called 3f9f0c6ecaf0e6f3f219d30632c5d1f2479d7498. A patch should be applied to remediate this issue.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.1%
Top 83% exploitable
Exploit
POC
Public exploit code exists
Data Quality
9 sources
Confidence: High
EUVD NVD CVE.org EPSS Vulnrichment Vendor CIRCL GitHub VulDB

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 Yes
EPSS 0.1%
Patch available Yes
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
Scheduled
Exploitation
Poc
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
Yes
Human Impact· derived
Medium
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

48
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +28
PoC: +20
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Medium

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