CVE-2020-1763Network attack vector

Unauthenticated IKE interruption via null state dereference

Published May 12, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Denial of service in the Libreswan pluto daemon 3.27 through 3.31 allows remote attackers to trigger a restart via an IKEv1 packet. While rejecting an encrypted Informational Exchange with a bogus payload and no matching state, process_packet_tail dereferences a null state pointer to format a log message. No authentication or valid peer state is required; repeated packets can keep the IKE service unavailable, although the daemon respawns after each crash.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability3.29%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Denial of service in the Libreswan pluto daemon 3.27 through 3.31 allows remote attackers to trigger a restart via an IKEv1 packet. While rejecting an encrypted Informational Exchange with a bogus payload and no matching state, process_packet_tail dereferences a null state pointer to format a log message. No authentication or valid peer state is required; repeated packets can keep the IKE service unavailable, although the daemon respawns after each crash.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-1763
Published
May 12, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
The Libreswan Project
Product
Libreswan
Classifications
CWE-125, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 12, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=from versions 3.27 till 3.31

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

The Libreswan Project · Libreswanversion=from versions 3.27 till 3.31

Published CVSS scores

7.5Red Hat, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.0NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-125Out-of-bounds Read
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo