VulnerabilityPublished 29 May 2026Updated 12 Nov 2026

CVE-2026-46702: Russh · No limit on the size of a decompressed SSH packet

Affects russhSource GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-46702· High 7.5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High : upgrade to 0.61.1 soon.

Data as of 12 Nov 2026, 08:06 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Patch: Available – fixed in 0.61.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Jun 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 11 Nov 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade russh to 0.61.1.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
crates.iorussh`pkg:cargo/russh`Other threats	Affected >=0.34.0 <0.61.1	Fixed in 0.61.1

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Upgrade russh to version 0.61.1 or later, where the decompressed output size is properly capped and oversized packets are rejected. This fix prevents memory exhaustion from compressed SSH packets. No additional mitigation is required if the updated version is deployed.

Description

A vulnerability in russh allows an attacker to send a compressed SSH packet that decompresses to an excessively large size, causing the server or client to consume large amounts of memory. This occurs because the decompression output was not limited, enabling a small compressed packet to expand to hundreds of megabytes. The issue affects russh versions from 0.34.0 up to but not including 0.61.1. The flaw is fixed in version 0.61.1 by capping decompressed output size to 256 KiB plus header bytes, rejecting larger packets.

Impact

An unauthenticated attacker can cause a russh server to allocate large amounts of memory by sending a specially crafted compressed SSH packet after the NEWKEYS message but before authentication. Similarly, a malicious server can cause a russh client that negotiated compression to consume excessive memory. This can lead to denial of service due to resource exhaustion. The CVSS score is 7.5 (high severity), reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction, and impact on availability only.

Summary

The russh SSH library, when using zlib or zlib@openssh.com compression, only limits the compressed payload size but not the decompressed output size. This allows an unauthenticated client or malicious server to send a compressed packet that decompresses to a very large size, consuming excessive memory. The vulnerability affects russh versions >=0.34.0 and <0.61.1. From version 0.61.1 onwards, decompressed output size is capped to the maximum allowed for uncompressed packets (256 KiB plus header), and oversized packets are rejected with an error. This prevents memory exhaustion attacks via crafted compressed SSH packets.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 12 Nov 2026, 08:06 UTC

Technical details

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