CVE-2026-78130
Received Received - Intake

NULL Pointer Dereference in strongSwan X.509 Plugin

Publication date: 2026-09-11

Last updated on: 2026-09-11

Assigner: MITRE

Description
strongSwan 4.2.0 through 6.0.7 has a NULL pointer dereference in the x509 plugin's attribute certificate parser.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-09-11
Last Modified
2026-09-11
Generated
2026-09-11
AI Q&A
2026-09-11
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-78130
EUVD
EUVD-2026-75903

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
strongswan strongswan From 4.2.0 (inc) to 6.0.7 (inc)
strongswan strongswan 6.1.0

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-476 The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a NULL pointer dereference flaw in strongSwan's x509 plugin, affecting versions 4.2.0 through 6.0.7. It occurs during the verification of X.509 attribute certificates when the plugin attempts to access the issuerName field without checking if it is set, leading to a denial of service.

Detection Guidance

Check if strongSwan is running with the x509 plugin loaded. Use commands like 'ipsec status' or 'ps aux | grep strongswan' to verify. Inspect logs for crashes or NULL pointer errors in strongSwan processes.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can cause a denial of service by crashing the strongSwan service when processing malformed attribute certificates. It does not allow remote code execution but may disrupt VPN services relying on strongSwan for secure communication.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability causes a denial of service due to a NULL-pointer dereference in strongSwan's x509 plugin when validating X.509 attribute certificates. It does not lead to remote code execution or data exposure, so it likely has minimal direct impact on compliance with standards like GDPR or HIPAA, which focus on data protection and availability.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade strongSwan to version 6.1.0 or later. Alternatively, disable the x509 and acert plugins by editing the configuration file and removing their load commands.

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