CVE-2018-6459
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 · uneditedThe rsa_pss_params_parse function in libstrongswan/credentials/keys/signature_params.c in strongSwan 5.6.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted RSASSA-PSS signature that lacks a mask generation function parameter.
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 confidenceThe rsa_pss_params_parse function in strongSwan 5.6.1 fails to properly handle RSASSA-PSS signatures that lack a mask generation function (MGF) parameter, causing a denial of service when processing such crafted signatures.
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= 5.6.1CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify strongSwan installation and versionRun 'strongswan -v' or 'ipsec --version' to determine the installed version of strongSwanAffected if The version shown is exactly 5.6.1 (no other versions are affected per the advisory)
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Verify RSA-PSS authentication is configuredExamine IPsec configuration files in /etc/ipsec.d/ and /etc/ipsec.conf for 'authby=rsasig' with 'sha2' and 'rsasig' using PSS padding (may appear as 'rsasig-pss' or be implied by RSASSA-PSS in certificate/key configuration)Affected if Any IPsec connection or charon daemon is configured to accept RSASSA-PSS signatures for authentication
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Check if charon IKE daemon is runningRun 'ps aux | grep charon' or 'systemctl status charon' to verify the strongSwan IKE daemon is activeAffected if The charon daemon is running and processing IKE/ESP connections using RSA authentication
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Review authentication logs for parsing issuesExamine /var/log/daemon.log, /var/log/syslog, or strongSwan logs for 'rsa_pss_params_parse' errors or 'MGF' parameter warnings when processing RSA signaturesAffected if Logs show failures parsing RSASSA-PSS signature parameters or denial of service events related to RSA signature processing
A system is affected if it runs strongSwan version 5.6.1 AND uses RSA authentication (particularly RSASSA-PSS) in IPsec connections processed by the charon daemon.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpdate to a patched version of strongSwan or implement validation to reject RSASSA-PSS signatures missing the required MGF parameter.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,656.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-6459 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-6459 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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