# CVE-2008-0852: Null dereference in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash the SSH server by sending a specific packet, causing a denial of service.

- **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:** No
- **Published:** 21 Feb 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w44x-2qh4-v8w9

## What is CVE-2008-0852?

CVE-2008-0852 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Feb 2008. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

freeSSHd 1.2 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS packet to TCP port 22, which triggers a NULL pointer dereference.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-0852?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Freesshd Freesshd.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-0852?

No fix has been published for CVE-2008-0852 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2008-0852 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2008-0852 exists.

Public exploit code:

- freeSSHd 1.2 - 'SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS' Remote Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2018-9853](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-9853/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2012-6066](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6066/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2008-6899](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-6899/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2008-4762](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4762/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2008-2573](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-2573/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-0852 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-0852 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Feb 2008. 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-2008-0852 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-2008-0852/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0852/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-0852
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-0852
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-0852

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0852/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.