OpenVPN 2.6.13 Update Fixes Security Flaw

OpenVPN has recently released version 2.6.13 of its package for creating virtual private networks. This latest version enables users to establish encrypted connections between two client machines or operate a centralized VPN server for multiple clients concurrently.

The new release addresses a security issue that could potentially lead to a buffer overflow on the server side of OpenVPN. This vulnerability occurs when the server receives a login or password from a client that exceeds the user_pass_len value. As of now, a CVE identifier for this vulnerability has not been assigned, and it is unclear how it could be exploited.

Some of the safety improvements included in this update are:

  • The client now sends IV_Platform_ver to the server, which contains information about the operating system release obtained from the Uname() function. This allows servers to collect statistics on the OS versions used by clients.
  • On Linux systems, the SystemD-Osk-Password process now features the parameter “–timeout=0” to disable the 90-second timeout for secret configuration.
  • Memory leaks have been fixed on FreeBSD systems.
  • When launched with the option “-ass-nocache,” the authentication parameters for proxies are now removed after they have been used.
  • The Windows Client now utilizes the CryptProtectMemory() function for secure storage of passwords and tokens in memory. Additionally, a new API has been implemented to retrieve the version of the DCO-Win driver.
/Reports, release notes, official announcements.