CVE-2026-5545

Description

libcurl might in some circumstances reuse the wrong connection when asked to do an authenticated HTTP(S) request after a Negotiate-authenticated one, when both use the same host. 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 criteria must 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. An application that first uses Negotiate authentication to a server with `user1:password1` and then does another operation to the same server asking for any authentication method but for `user2:password2` (while the previous connection is still alive) - the second request gets confused and wrongly reuses the same connection and sends the new request over that connection thinking it uses a mix of user1's and user2's credentials when it is in fact still using the connection authenticated for user1...

CVSS v3.1 Score

6.5

MEDIUM

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

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0004

Probability of exploitation

0.11%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-613 CWE-613

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Versions
haxx	curl	7.10.6 — 8.20.0

References

Advisories & Patches

https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2026-5545.html https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2026-5545.json

Exploits

https://hackerone.com/reports/3642555 https://hackerone.com/reports/3642555

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-5545? +

libcurl might in some circumstances reuse the wrong connection when asked to do an authenticated HTTP(S) request after a Negotiate-authenticated one, when both use the same host. 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 criteria must 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. An application that first uses Negotiate authentication to a server with `user1:password1` and then does another operation to the same server asking for any authentication method but for `user2:password2` (while the previous connection is still alive) - the second request gets confused and wrongly reuses the same connection and sends the new request over that connection thinking it uses a mix of user1's and user2's credentials when it is in fact still using the connection authenticated for user1... It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-5545? +

CVE-2026-5545 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance. The EPSS score is 0.0004, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

What products are affected by CVE-2026-5545? +

CVE-2026-5545 affects products from haxx, specifically: curl. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-5545? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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