NVD - CVE-2026-1965 (original) (raw)

Description

libcurl can in some circumstances reuse the wrong connection when asked to do an Negotiate-authenticated HTTP or HTTPS request. libcurl features a pool of recent connections so that subsequent requests can reuse an existing connection to avoid overhead. When reusing a connection a range of criterion must first be met. Due to a logical error in the code, a request that was issued by an application could wrongfully reuse an existing connection to the same server that was authenticated using different credentials. One underlying reason being that Negotiate sometimes authenticates *connections* and not *requests*, contrary to how HTTP is designed to work. An application that allows Negotiate authentication to a server (that responds wanting Negotiate) with `user1:password1` and then does another operation to the same server also using Negotiate but with `user2:password2` (while the previous connection is still alive) - the second request wrongly reused the same connection and since it then sees that the Negotiate negotiation is already made, it just sends the request over that connection thinking it uses the user2 credentials when it is in fact still using the connection authenticated for user1... The set of authentication methods to use is set with `CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH`. Applications can disable libcurl's reuse of connections and thus mitigate this problem, by using one of the following libcurl options to alter how connections are or are not reused: `CURLOPT_FRESH_CONNECT`, `CURLOPT_MAXCONNECTS` and `CURLMOPT_MAX_HOST_CONNECTIONS` (if using the curl_multi API).

Metrics

NVD enrichment efforts reference publicly available information to associate vector strings. CVSS information contributed by other sources is also displayed.

CVSS 4.0 Severity and Vector Strings:

NIST CVSS score

NIST: NVD

NVD assessment not yet provided.

CVSS 3.x Severity and Vector Strings:

NIST CVSS score

NIST: NVD

Base Score: N/A

NVD assessment not yet provided.

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

CVSS 2.0 Severity and Vector Strings:

National Institute of Standards and Technology

NIST: NVD

Base Score: N/A

NVD assessment not yet provided.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

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URL Source(s) Tag(s)
https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2026-1965.html curl Patch Vendor Advisory
https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2026-1965.json curl Vendor Advisory

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-ID CWE Name Source
CWE-305 Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness CISA-ADP

Known Affected Software Configurations Switch to CPE 2.2

Change History

3 change records found show changes

Initial Analysis by NIST 3/12/2026 10:11:19 AM

Action Type Old Value New Value
Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:haxx:curl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 7.10.6 up to (excluding) 8.19.0
Added Reference Type curl: https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2026-1965.html Types: Patch, Vendor Advisory
Added Reference Type curl: https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2026-1965.json Types: Vendor Advisory

CVE Modified by CISA-ADP 3/11/2026 11:16:25 AM

Action Type Old Value New Value
Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Added CWE CWE-305

New CVE Received from curl 3/11/2026 7:15:59 AM

Action Type Old Value New Value
Added Description libcurl can in some circumstances reuse the wrong connection when asked to do an Negotiate-authenticated HTTP or HTTPS request. libcurl features a pool of recent connections so that subsequent requests can reuse an existing connection to avoid overhead. When reusing a connection a range of criterion must first be met. Due to a logical error in the code, a request that was issued by an application could wrongfully reuse an existing connection to the same server that was authenticated using different credentials. One underlying reason being that Negotiate sometimes authenticates *connections* and not *requests*, contrary to how HTTP is designed to work. An application that allows Negotiate authentication to a server (that responds wanting Negotiate) with `user1:password1` and then does another operation to the same server also using Negotiate but with `user2:password2` (while the previous connection is still alive) - the second request wrongly reused the same connection and since it then sees that the Negotiate negotiation is already made, it just sends the request over that connection thinking it uses the user2 credentials when it is in fact still using the connection authenticated for user1... The set of authentication methods to use is set with `CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH`. Applications can disable libcurl's reuse of connections and thus mitigate this problem, by using one of the following libcurl options to alter how connections are or are not reused: `CURLOPT_FRESH_CONNECT`, `CURLOPT_MAXCONNECTS` and `CURLMOPT_MAX_HOST_CONNECTIONS` (if using the curl_multi API).
Added Reference https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2026-1965.html
Added Reference https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2026-1965.json