# CVE-2006-1206: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can exhaust connection slots in Dropbear SSH server, causing denial of service for legitimate users.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Mar 2006
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2006-1206, GHSA-6979-j27r-h7g9

## What is CVE-2006-1206?

CVE-2006-1206 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Mar 2006. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Matt Johnston Dropbear SSH server 0.47 and earlier, as used in embedded Linux devices and on general-purpose operating systems, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (connection slot exhaustion) via a large number of connection attempts that exceeds the MAX_UNAUTH_CLIENTS defined value of 30.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2006-1206?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Dropbear Ssh Project Dropbear Ssh.

## How do I fix CVE-2006-1206?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2006-1206 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2006-1206 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Dropbear / OpenSSH Server - 'MAX_UNAUTH_CLIENTS' Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2016-7406](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7406/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-7407](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7407/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-7408](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7408/): Command injection in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-36254](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-36254/): Path traversal in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2007-1099](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-1099/): Security feature bypass in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2006-1206 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2006-1206 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Mar 2006. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2006-1206 exists.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-1206/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-1206/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2006-1206
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2006-1206
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2006-1206

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-1206/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.