CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-3634 — A flaw has been found in libssh in versions prior to 0.9.6

Medium CVSS 6.5

A flaw has been found in libssh in versions prior to 0.9.6. The SSH protocol keeps track of two shared secrets during the lifetime of the session. One of them is called secret_hash and the other session_id. Initially, both of them are the same, but after key re-exchange, previous session_id is kept and used as an input to new secret_hash. Historically, both of these buffers had shared length variable, which worked as long as these buffers were same. But the key re-exchange operation can also change the key exchange method, which can be based on hash of different size, eventually creating "secret_hash" of different size than the session_id has. This becomes an issue when the session_id memory is zeroed or when it is used again during second key re-exchange.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.5 (3.1)
Published
2021-08-31
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-787

Affected products

  • libssh / libssh
  • redhat / virtualization / 4.0
  • redhat / enterprise_linux / 8.0
  • debian / debian_linux / 10.0
  • debian / debian_linux / 11.0
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 33

Showing 6 representative product identities from 10 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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