CVE-2017-7478

HIGH

OpenVPN 2.3.12-2.3.14 - Unauthenticated Denial of Service via Large Control Packet

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2017-7478. PoCs published by QuarksLab.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit triggers a denial-of-service (DoS) in OpenVPN 2.4.0 by sending a malformed P_CONTROL_V1 packet with an oversized data field, causing an assertion failure in ssl.c. It leverages UDP-based packet manipulation to crash the server.

Description

OpenVPN version 2.3.12 and newer is vulnerable to unauthenticated Denial of Service of server via received large control packet. Note that this issue is fixed in 2.3.15 and 2.4.2.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by QuarksLab · pythondosmultiple
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41993

This exploit triggers a denial-of-service (DoS) in OpenVPN 2.4.0 by sending a malformed P_CONTROL_V1 packet with an oversized data field, causing an assertion failure in ssl.c. It leverages UDP-based packet manipulation to crash the server.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Dos
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: OpenVPN 2.4.0
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Network access to the OpenVPN server · OpenVPN server running version 2.4.0
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (4)

Core 4
Core References
Exploit, Third Party Advisory exploit x_refsource_exploit-db
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41993/
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_sectrack
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1038473
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/98444

Scores

CVSS v3 7.5
EPSS 0.1389
EPSS Percentile 96.1%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-20 CWE-617
Status published
Products (6)
openvpn/openvpn 2.3.12
openvpn/openvpn 2.3.13
openvpn/openvpn 2.3.14
openvpn/openvpn 2.4.0 (6 CPE variants)
openvpn/openvpn 2.4.1
OpenVPN Technologies, Inc/openvpn 2.3.12 and newer
Published May 15, 2017
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026