How serious is CVE-2026-23943?

This vulnerability has a CVSS score of 6.9 out of 10, classified as MEDIUM severity. Proof-of-concept exploit code is publicly available, making this an active threat.

Is there exploit code available for CVE-2026-23943?

Yes, proof-of-concept exploit code for CVE-2026-23943 is publicly available on GitHub and security research platforms. This increases the risk of active exploitation.

Which products are affected by CVE-2026-23943?

Check the official CVE details for a complete list of affected products and versions.

How do I fix CVE-2026-23943?

To remediate CVE-2026-23943, check for security patches from the vendor. Apply all available updates and security patches. If no patch is available, implement recommended workarounds or security controls to mitigate the risk.

CVE-2026-23943

Medium

|6.9

Exploit Available

Plain English Summary

AI-powered analysis for quick understanding

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability to overwhelm a server's memory, causing it to crash and become unavailable, which is known as a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. This can happen before the user is even authenticated, as the server accepts specially crafted compressed data that inflates to a massive size, rapidly consuming resources.

Technical Description

Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Compression Bomb) vulnerability in Erlang OTP ssh (ssh_transport modules) allows Denial of Service via Resource Depletion. The SSH transport layer advertises legacy zlib compression by default and inflates attacker-controlled payloads pre-authentication without any size limit, enabling reliable memory exhaustion DoS. Two compression algorithms are affected: * zlib: Activates immediately after key exchange, enabling unauthenticated attacks * zlib@openssh.com: Activates post-authentication, enabling authenticated attacks Each SSH packet can decompress ~255 MB from 256 KB of wire data (1029:1 amplification ratio). Multiple packets can rapidly exhaust available memory, causing OOM kills in memory-constrained environments. This vulnerability is associated with program files lib/ssh/src/ssh_transport.erl and program routines ssh_transport:decompress/2, ssh_transport:handle_packet_part/4. This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 until OTP 28.4.1, 27.3.4.9 and 26.2.5.18 corresponding to ssh from 3.0.1 until 5.5.1, 5.2.11.6 and 5.1.4.14.

CVSS Vector Analysis

Attack VectorNetwork

Attack ComplexityLow

Privileges RequiredNone

User InteractionNone

Confidentiality ImpactHigh

Integrity ImpactHigh

Availability ImpactHigh

ScopeChanged

Vector String

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Exploit Resources

Search for proof-of-concept code and exploit modules

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Official References

NIST NVD

Est. Bounty

$1,000($500-$1K)

Vendor Response

Grade APatched in 2 days

Quick Information

Published

Mar 13, 2026

25 days ago

Last Modified

Mar 16, 2026

22 days ago