Description
A cross-protocol scripting issue was discovered in the management interface in OpenVPN through 2.4.5. When this interface is enabled over TCP without a password, and when no other clients are connected to this interface, attackers can execute arbitrary management commands, obtain sensitive information, or cause a denial of service (SIGTERM) by triggering XMLHttpRequest actions in a web browser. This is demonstrated by a multipart/form-data POST to http://localhost:23000 with a "signal SIGTERM" command in a TEXTAREA element. NOTE: The vendor disputes that this is a vulnerability. They state that this is the result of improper configuration of the OpenVPN instance rather than an intrinsic vulnerability, and now more explicitly warn against such configurations in both the management-interface documentation, and with a runtime warning
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | openvpn | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS | openvpn | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS | openvpn | No fix yet | — |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 SP3 | openvpn | 2.4.3-5.7.1 | SUSE-SU-2021:1577-1 |
| SLES 15 SP2 | openvpn | 2.4.3-5.7.1 | SUSE-SU-2021:1577-1 |
| SLES 12 SP5 | openvpn | 2.3.8-16.26.1 | SUSE-SU-2021:1576-1 |
| SLES 11 | openvpn-openssl1 | 2.3.2-0.10.9.1 | SUSE-SU-2021:14723-1 |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES for SAP 12 SP5 | openvpn | 2.3.8-16.26.1 | SUSE-SU-2021:1576-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | openvpn | 2.5.4-2.1 | openSUSE-SU-2024:11692-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 15.2 | openvpn | 2.4.3-lp152.6.3.1 | openSUSE-SU-2021:0734-1 |
Advisories 5
- SUSE-SU-2021:14723-1 Security update for openvpn-openssl1 SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2024:11692-1 openvpn-2.5.4-2.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2021:0734-1 Security update for openvpn SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2021:1576-1 Security update for openvpn SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2021:1577-1 Security update for openvpn SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026