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GnuTLS DTLS Handshake Fragment Overflow

published 5 months ago
Summary

A security update is available for GnuTLS to fix a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to crash the application or potentially execute malicious code. This issue affects any application using GnuTLS for secure communications. To stay secure, update to the latest version of GnuTLS as soon as possible.

What to do
  • Update openeuler gnutls to version 3.8.2-14.oe2403.
Affected software
Ecosystem VendorProductAffected versions
openEuler:24.03-LTS openeuler gnutls < 3.8.2-14.oe2403
Fix: upgrade to 3.8.2-14.oe2403
Original advisory text
gnutls security update
GnuTLS is a secure communications library implementing the SSL, TLS and DTLS protocols and technologies around them. It provides a simple C language application programming interface (API) to access the secure communications protocols as well as APIs to parse and write X.509, PKCS #12, and other required structures. The project strives to provide a secure communications back-end, simple to use and integrated with the rest of the base Linux libraries. A back-end designed to work and be secure out of the box, keeping the complexity of TLS and PKI out of application code.

Security Fix(es):

A heap buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the DTLS handshake fragment reassembly logic of GnuTLS. The issue arises in merge_handshake_packet() where incoming handshake fragments are matched and merged based solely on handshake type, without validating that the message_length field remains consistent across all fragments of the same logical message. An attacker can exploit this by sending crafted DTLS fragments with conflicting message_length values, causing the implementation to allocate a buffer based on a smaller initial fragment and subsequently write beyond its bounds using larger, inconsistent fragments. Because the merge operation does not enforce proper bounds checking against the allocated buffer size, this results in an out-of-bounds write on the heap. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication via the DTLS handshake path and can lead to application crashes or potential memory corruption.(CVE-2026-33846)

A flaw was found in gnutls. This vulnerability occurs because gnutls performs case-sensitive comparisons of `nameConstraints` labels, specifically for `dNSName` (DNS) or `rfc822Name` (email) constraints within `excludedSubtrees` or `permittedSubtrees`. A remote attacker can exploit this by crafting a leaf certificate with casing differences in the Subject Alternative Name (SAN), leading to a policy bypass where a certificate that should be rejected is instead accepted. This could result in unauthorized access or information disclosure.(CVE-2026-3833)

(CVE-2026-42009)

A flaw was found in gnutls. Servers configured with RSA-PSK (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman – Pre-Shared Key) wrongfully matched usernames containing a NUL character with truncated usernames. A remote attacker could exploit this by sending a specially crafted username, leading to an authentication bypass. This vulnerability allows an attacker to gain unauthorized access by circumventing the authentication process.(CVE-2026-42010)

(CVE-2026-42013)

(CVE-2026-42014)

(CVE-2026-42015)

(CVE-2026-5260)

(CVE-2026-5419)
Timeline
Published15 May 2026
Updated15 May 2026
First seen15 May 2026
Sources
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