Description
A vulnerability was determined in mkj Dropbear up to 2025.89. Impacted is the function unpackneg of the file src/curve25519.c of the component S Range Check. This manipulation causes improper verification of cryptographic signature. The attack can be initiated remotely. The attack is considered to have high complexity. The exploitability is considered difficult. The actual existence of this vulnerability is currently in question. Patch name: fdec3c90a15447bd538641d85e5a3e3ac981011d. To fix this issue, it is recommended to deploy a patch. The project maintainer explains: "Signature Malleability is not exploitable in SSH protocol. (...) [A] PoC doesn't exist for SSH implementation, but rather it's against the internal API."
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| mkj | Dropbear | 2025.0, 2025.1, 2025.2, 2025.3, 2025.4, 2025.5, 2025.6, 2025.7, 2025.8, 2025.9, 2025.10, 2025.11, 2025.12, 2025.13, 2025.14, 2025.15, 2025.16, 2025.17, 2025.18, 2025.19, 2025.20, 2025.21, 2025.22, 2025.23, 2025.24, 2025.25, 2025.26, 2025.27, 2025.28, 2025.29, 2025.30, 2025.31, 2025.32, 2025.33, 202… | — |
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.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | dropbear | 2026.90-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 25.10 | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | dropbear | No fix yet | — |
Advisories 1
- WID-SEC-2026-0635 Dropbear SSH: Schwachstelle ermöglicht Manipulation von Dateien BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Mar 8, 2026
References
- VDB-349652 | mkj Dropbear S Range Check curve25519.c unpackneg signature verification vdb-entry technical-description
- VDB-349652 | CTI Indicators (IOB, IOC, IOA) signature permissions-required
- Submit #765933 | GitHub Dropbear 2025.89 Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature third-party-advisory
- https://github.com/mkj/dropbear/issues/406 issue-tracking
- https://github.com/mkj/dropbear/pull/407 issue-tracking patch
- https://github.com/mkj/dropbear/commit/fdec3c90a15447bd538641d85e5a3e3ac981011d patch
- https://github.com/str4d/ed25519-java/issues/82#issue-727629226 issue-tracking
- https://github.com/mkj/dropbear/ product