Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2009-2661

The asn1_length function in strongSwan 2.8 before 2.8.11, 4.2 before 4.2.17, and 4.3 before 4.3.3 does not properly handle X.509 certificates with crafted Relative Distinguished Names (RDNs), which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (pluto IKE daemon crash) via malformed ASN.1 data. NOTE: this is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2009-2185.

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2009-2661 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 1 product from strongswan organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Originally identified in 2009, this vulnerability predates many modern security frameworks and practices. The vulnerability landscape of that era was characterized by different threat models and less mature defense mechanisms compared to contemporary standards.

Published

2009-08-04T16:30:00.483

Last Modified

2025-04-09T00:30:58.490

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 5.0 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: NONE
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

10.0

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-310

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.0	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.1	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.2	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.3	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.4	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.5	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.6	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.7	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.8	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	2.8.10	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.0	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.1	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.2	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.3	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.10	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.11	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.12	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.13	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.14	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.15	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.2.16	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.3.0	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.3.1	Yes
Application	strongswan	strongswan	4.3.2	Yes

References

http://download.strongswan.org/patches/07_asn1_length_patch/strongswan-4.3.x_asn1_length.patch ([email protected])
http://download.strongswan.org/patches/07_asn1_length_patch/strongswan-4.x.x_asn1_length.patch Patch ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2009-10/msg00001.html ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2009-11/msg00004.html ([email protected])
http://secunia.com/advisories/36922 ([email protected])
http://up2date.astaro.com/2009/08/up2date_7505_released.html ([email protected])
http://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1899 ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/07/27/1 ([email protected])
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/2247 ([email protected])
https://lists.strongswan.org/pipermail/announce/2009-July/000056.html Patch ([email protected])
http://download.strongswan.org/patches/07_asn1_length_patch/strongswan-4.3.x_asn1_length.patch (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://download.strongswan.org/patches/07_asn1_length_patch/strongswan-4.x.x_asn1_length.patch Patch (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2009-10/msg00001.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2009-11/msg00004.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://secunia.com/advisories/36922 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://up2date.astaro.com/2009/08/up2date_7505_released.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1899 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/07/27/1 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/2247 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.strongswan.org/pipermail/announce/2009-July/000056.html Patch (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For strongswan's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.