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8.7
strongSwan Management Interface Exposes Sensitive Data
CVE-2026-25998
Summary
The strongSwan management interface stores sensitive data like passwords and encryption keys in a database without proper protection. This makes it easy for an attacker with access to the database to uncover these secrets. A recent update fixes this issue, so make sure to upgrade to the latest version.
What to do
No fix is available yet. Check with your software vendor for updates.
Affected software
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fix available |
|---|---|---|---|
| strongswan | strongman | 0.1.0 | – |
Original title
strongMan is a management interface for strongSwan, an OpenSource IPsec-based VPN. When storing credentials in the database (private keys, EAP secrets), strongMan encrypts the corresponding databas...
Original description
strongMan is a management interface for strongSwan, an OpenSource IPsec-based VPN. When storing credentials in the database (private keys, EAP secrets), strongMan encrypts the corresponding database fields. So far it used AES in CTR mode with a global database key. Together with an initialization vector (IV), a key stream is generated to encrypt the data in the database fields. But because strongMan did not generate individual IVs, every database field was encrypted using the same key stream. An attacker that has access to the database can use this to recover the encrypted credentials. In particular, because certificates, which have to be considered public information, are also encrypted using the same mechanism, an attacker can directly recover a large chunk of the key stream, which allows them to decrypt basically all other secrets especially ECDSA private keys and EAP secrets, which are usually a lot shorter. Version 0.2.0 fixes the issue by switching to AES-GCM-SIV encryption with a random nonce and an individually derived encryption key, using HKDF, for each encrypted value. Database migrations are provided to automatically re-encrypt all credentials.
nvd CVSS3.1
7.5
nvd CVSS4.0
8.7
Vulnerability type
CWE-323
CWE-1204
Published: 19 Feb 2026 · Updated: 11 Mar 2026 · First seen: 6 Mar 2026