CVE-2019-12312
An attacker can trigger a NULL pointer dereference by initiating an IKEv2 IKE_SA_INIT exchange, followed by a bogus INFORMATIONAL exchange instead of the normallly expected IKE_AUTH exchange.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (2.75%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
In Libreswan 3.27 an assertion failure can lead to a pluto IKE daemon restart. An attacker can trigger a NULL pointer dereference by initiating an IKEv2 IKE_SA_INIT exchange, followed by a bogus INFORMATIONAL exchange instead of the normallly expected IKE_AUTH exchange. This affects send_v2N_spi_response_from_state() in programs/pluto/ikev2_send.c that will then trigger a NULL pointer dereference leading to a restart of libreswan.
- CVSS 3.0
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 2.75% probability · 86th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-476, CWE-617
- Affected
- libreswan/libreswan
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 2.7% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- http://www.iwantacve.cn/index.php/archives/218/Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/libreswan/libreswan/compare/9b1394e...3897683Patch, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/libreswan/libreswan/issues/246Third Party Advisory
- https://libreswan.org/security/CVE-2019-12312/CVE-2019-12312.txt
- https://libreswan.org/security/CVE-2019-12312/libreswan-3.27-CVE-2019-12312.patch
- http://www.iwantacve.cn/index.php/archives/218/Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/libreswan/libreswan/compare/9b1394e...3897683Patch, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/libreswan/libreswan/issues/246Third Party Advisory
- https://libreswan.org/security/CVE-2019-12312/CVE-2019-12312.txt
- https://libreswan.org/security/CVE-2019-12312/libreswan-3.27-CVE-2019-12312.patch
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.