Improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts in the SSHGuard component of Netgate pfSense Plus software v22.05.1 and pfSense CE software v2.6.0 allows attackers to bypass brute force protection mechanisms via crafted web requests.
This vulnerability carries a CRITICAL severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 2 products from netgate, from pfsense organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2023, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.
2023-03-22T23:15:12.350
2025-02-25T22:15:14.217
Modified
CVSSv3.1: 9.8 (CRITICAL)
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | netgate | pfsense_plus | 22.05.1 | Yes |
| Application | pfsense | pfsense | 2.6.0 | Yes |
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 netgate'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.