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🛡️ CVE-2026-40194 on Ubuntu — php-phpseclib

⚪ Unknown ✅ No Known Exploit OSV
N/A
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

phpseclib is a PHP secure communications library. Starting in 0.1.1 and prior to 3.0.51, 2.0.53, and 1.0.28, phpseclib\Net\SSH2::get_binary_packet() uses PHP's != operator to compare a received SSH packet HMAC against the locally computed HMAC. != on equal-length binary strings in PHP uses memcmp(), which short-circuits on the first differing byte. This is a real variable-time comparison (CWE-208), proven by scaling benchmarks. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.0.51, 2.0.53, and 1.0.28.

Distribution advisory

This page covers CVE-2026-40194 as tracked by Ubuntu, for the package php-phpseclib. No fixed version has been recorded for this distribution yet.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is high, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality low, integrity none, availability none.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: High — the attacker first has to win a race, learn a secret or otherwise prepare the target.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: Low — limited, and the attacker does not choose what is affected.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: None.

Weakness class

UBUNTU-CVE-2026-40194 is classified as CWE-208: Observable Timing Discrepancy. Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not.

Affected software

UBUNTU-CVE-2026-40194 is recorded against 3 packages.

  • php-phpseclib
  • php-phpseclib3
  • phpseclib

Timeline and source

Published on 10 April 2026 and last revised on 20 May 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.

References

ubuntu.com (Report)
www.cve.org (Report)
github.com (Report)
github.com (Report)
github.com (Report)
github.com (Report)
github.com (Report)

Other advisories for this package

php-phpseclib has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-208: Observable Timing Discrepancy) in other software:

CVE-2026-40194 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity Unknown
CVSS Score N/A
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source OSV
Published 2026-04-10
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-05-20
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
php-phpseclib — —
php-phpseclib3 — —
phpseclib — —

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.

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