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CVE-2026-55953

TLS 1.2 and DTLS client accepts unoffered anonymous cipher suite, bypassing server authentication

Published
Last modified
published
Not listed in CISA KEV
Fix
Fixed in 27.3.4.15, 28.5.0.4, 29.0.4, 11.2.12.11, 11.6.0.4, and 1 more
None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
  • Exploitation: none
  • Automatable: no
  • Technical impact: total

Summary

The Erlang/OTP ssl TLS 1.2 (and earlier) and DTLS client does not verify that the cipher suite selected by the server in ServerHello was among the suites offered by the client in ClientHello. The client-side tls_handshake:hello/5 handler validates the negotiated protocol version and the downgrade sentinel but hands the server-chosen suite directly to ssl_handshake:handle_server_hello_extensions/9, which installs it without a membership check. The TLS 1.3 client path performs this check (per RFC 8446), so it is not affected. An on-path attacker between the client and the intended server can respond with a ServerHello selecting an anonymous key exchange suite such as TLS_DH_anon_* or TLS_ECDH_anon_* that the client never offered. Anonymous suites do not require the server to present a certificate, so the entire verify_peer and cacerts configuration is bypassed: the attacker completes the handshake with its own ephemeral parameters, no certificate is validated, no hostname is checked, and ssl:connect returns {ok, Socket}. All subsequent application traffic is readable and modifiable by the attacker. This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 before OTP 27.3.4.15, from OTP 28.0 before OTP 28.5.0.4, and from OTP 29.0 before OTP 29.0.4, corresponding to ssl from 5.3.4 before 11.2.12.11, from 11.3 before 11.6.0.4, and from 11.7 before 11.7.4. Whether OTP before OTP 17.0, corresponding to ssl before 5.3.4, is affected is unknown.

Timeline

  1. CVE published
  2. CISA SSVC assessment

    Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

  3. Record last updated

Affected versions

  • otp

    From 17.0 · fixed in 27.3.4.15; From 28.0 · fixed in 28.5.0.4; From 29.0 · fixed in 29.0.4

  • ssl

    From 5.3.4 · fixed in 11.2.12.11; From 11.3 · fixed in 11.6.0.4; From 11.7 · fixed in 11.7.4

  • erlang/otp

    Version range not reported

References 7

GitHub · erlang/otp

cna.erlef.org

osv.dev

erlang.org