Server crash via duplicate cipher-suite amplification
Published Sep 29, 2022 · Updated May 20, 2025
Buffer overflow in wolfSSL before 5.5.1 allows remote attackers to crash TLS 1.3 servers with crafted Client Hello messages. RefineSuites appends matching peer cipher suites without deduplicating entries or checking its fixed stack-array capacity; a retry processes the expanded list again, multiplying duplicates until the buffer is overwritten. The server must use TLS 1.3 with session tickets enabled, and the client must attempt session resumption while forcing a Hello Retry Request; the confirmed impact is a crash, not code execution.
Summary
What happened
Buffer overflow in wolfSSL before 5.5.1 allows remote attackers to crash TLS 1.3 servers with crafted Client Hello messages. RefineSuites appends matching peer cipher suites without deduplicating entries or checking its fixed stack-array capacity; a retry processes the expanded list again, multiplying duplicates until the buffer is overwritten. The server must use TLS 1.3 with session tickets enabled, and the client must attempt session resumption while forcing a Hello Retry Request; the confirmed impact is a crash, not code execution.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-39173
- Published
- Sep 29, 2022
- Updated
- May 20, 2025
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-787, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 29, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 20, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Published CVSS scores
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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.
Public exploit references
- tlspuffin TLS handshake crash triggerfunctional · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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