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Ipsec ToolsApplication

CVE-2008-3652

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-08-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
src/racoon/handler.c in racoon in ipsec-tools does not remove an "orphaned ph1" (phase 1) handle when it has been initiated remotely, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource consumption).

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The racoon VPN key management daemon in ipsec-tools fails to properly clean up orphaned Phase 1 handles when they are initiated remotely but never completed. This causes resource consumption (memory/file descriptors) that can lead to denial of service when an attacker repeatedly initiates incomplete Phase 1 connections.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of ipsec-tools that properly removes orphaned Phase 1 handles, or implement network-level rate limiting on UDP port 500 (ISAKMP) to limit connection attempts.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ipsec ToolsApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify if ipsec-tools package is installed
    On Linux: rpm -qa | grep ipsec-tools or dpkg -l | grep ipsec-tools. On BSD: pkg_info | grep ipsec-tools.
    Affected if The package is installed, indicating ipsec-tools is present in the environment.
  2. Confirm racoon daemon is running
    Run 'ps aux | grep racoon' or 'pgrep racoon' to check if the racoon process is active.
    Affected if The racoon process is running - the vulnerability only applies when the daemon is active.
  3. Check if ISAKMP port 500 is listening
    Run 'netstat -anp | grep :500' or 'ss -anp | grep :500' to verify UDP port 500 is open and listening.
    Affected if UDP port 500 is open and listening, indicating the VPN service is exposed.
  4. Inspect current resource usage of racoon process
    Check /proc/<racoon_pid>/fd directory for file descriptor count, or use 'ps -o pid,vsz,rss,comm -p <pid>' to view memory consumption.
    Affected if Unusually high file descriptor count or memory usage is observed for the racoon process, which may indicate active exploitation or resource exhaustion.

If ipsec-tools is installed, racoon is running, and UDP port 500 is exposed, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2008-3652 resource exhaustion attacks.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of ipsec-tools that properly removes orphaned Phase 1 handles, or implement network-level rate limiting on UDP port 500 (ISAKMP) to limit connection attempts.

Fix this in Ipsec Tools Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-3652 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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