Cesanta Mongoose Poly1305 Authentication Tag tls_chacha20.c mg_chacha20_poly1305_decrypt signature verification
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · Low · None
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-345.
Summary
A vulnerability was detected in Cesanta Mongoose up to 7.20. This impacts the function mg_chacha20_poly1305_decrypt of the file /src/tls_chacha20.c of the component Poly1305 Authentication Tag Handler. The manipulation results in improper verification of cryptographic signature. The attack may be launched remotely. This attack is characterized by high complexity. The exploitability is said to be difficult. The exploit is now public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cesanta | Mongoose | 7.0; 7.1; 7.2; 7.3; 7.4; 7.5; 7.6; 7.7; 7.8; 7.9; 7.10; 7.11; 7.12; 7.13; 7.14; 7.15; 7.16; 7.17; 7.18; 7.19; 7.20 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- Mongoose VendorCesanta Affected 7.0; 7.1; 7.2; 7.3; 7.4; 7.5; 7.6; 7.7; 7.8; 7.9; 7.10; 7.11; 7.12; 7.13; 7.14; 7.15; 7.16; 7.17; 7.18; 7.19; 7.20 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-2968
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-jprc-mg35-68jq
References
More Cesanta Mongoose vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-51393 Mongoose: Content-Length + Transfer-Encoding coexistence enables request smuggling CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-51389 Mongoose: TLS Hostname Verification Bypass via Overly Permissive Wildcard Matching CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2023-02723 Cesanta Mongoose MQTT Message Parsing Heap Overflow CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2020-15865 Buffer overflow in mg_resolve_from_hosts_file in Mongoose 6.18, when reading from a crafted hosts file. CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2023-17032 The HTTP server in Mongoose before 7.10 accepts requests containing negative… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-06113 Cesanta Mongoose TCP Option net_builtin.c handle_opt infinite loop CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
Sources
- CVE-2026-2968 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-2968 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-jprc-mg35-68jq · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-2968 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences