GHSA-rw4j-r22c-9gc3 AsyncSSH: asyncio event-loop freeze via SSH maximum packet size = 0 in SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN / OPEN_CONFIRMATION

• PyPI asyncssh: < 2.24.0 → fixed in 2.24.0

Summary A malicious SSH server can wedge an AsyncSSH client, and an authenticated client can wedge an AsyncSSH server, by sending a channel `maximum packet size` of `0` in `SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN_CONFIRMATION` (server→client) or `SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN` (client→server). AsyncSSH stores the peer-supplied value verbatim with no lower-bound check; the first time channel data is written, `SSHChannel._flush_send_buf` enters a synchronous infinite loop that cannot be interrupted by `asyncio.wait_for` or any timeout. The loop body has no `await`, so it blocks the entire asyncio event loop — for a server, one malicious authenticated channel freezes all current and future connections. RFC 4254 §5.1 leaves receiver behavior for a peer-reported "maximum packet size = 0" undefined, so the value must be rejected rather than stored. Root cause `asyncssh/channel.py`: ```python process_open (server side) -- line 465 self._send_pktsize = send_pktsize # peer value, no >= 1 check process_open_confirmation (client) -- line 528 self._send_pktsize = send_pktsize # peer value, no >= 1 check _flush_send_buf -- lines 305-320 while self._send_buf and self._send_window: pktsize = min(self._send_window, self._send_pktsize) # 0 when peer sends 0 buf, datatype = self._send_buf[0] if len(buf) > pktsize: # True for any buffered data data = buf[:pktsize] # empty (b'') del buf[:pktsize] # no-op ... self._send_window -= len(data) # -= 0, unchanged ``` With `_send_pktsize == 0`, `pktsize` is `0`, so `buf[:0]` is empty, `del buf[:0]` is a no-op, and `_send_window` is never decremented — the `while` condition is permanently true, and with no `await` in the body the event loop is blocked. Impact • Client vector (primary): a malicious SSH server replies to the client's channel open with `maximum packet size = 0`; the client wedges on its first channel write. The attacker is the server, so it needs no valid credentials. • Server vector: an authenticated client opens a channel with `maximum packet size = 0`; any server-side channel write wedges the AsyncSSH server's event loop, freezing every current and future connection. A single low-privilege account can take the whole server down. Both vectors are a single SSH message, deterministic, and cause total availability loss for the affected process. Affected versions <= 2.23.1 (latest release, 2026-06-06); also present on `master` (channel.py:465/528 unguarded). Verified end-to-end on 2.23.1. Verification The maintainer's proposed fix (reject `send_pktsize == 0` in `connection.py` `_process_channel_open` / `_process_channel_open_confirmation`) was applied to 2.23.1 and re-tested end-to-end over TCP: • Unpatched: malicious server (paramiko forcing `max_packet_size=0` in OPEN_CONFIRMATION) + real asyncssh client → client event loop wedges. • Patched: the guard fires inside `_process_channel_open_confirmation`, the malicious value is rejected, the connection closes cleanly (`ChannelOpenError: SSH connection closed`), and the client does not wedge. The maintainer (Ron Frederick) independently confirmed the freeze and noted that even shutting the server down does not break clients out of the loop. Reproducers available: a focused harness driving the real `SSHChannel._flush_send_buf` with `_send_pktsize=0`, and an end-to-end `malicious_server.py` (paramiko) + `client.py` (real asyncssh) pair. The end-to-end client repro uses `asyncio.new_event_loop()` (not `get_event_loop()`) for Python 3.14 compatibility. Suggested fix (maintainer's approach) In `connection.py`, after each `send_pktsize = packet.get_uint32()` in `_process_channel_open` and `_process_channel_open_confirmation`: ```python if send_pktsize == 0: raise ProtocolError('Invalid maximum packet size') ``` CVSS `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H` (6.5 Medium). An earlier draft quoted 7.5 High ("100% CPU"); the synchronous loop burns ~100% of one core's worth of CPU but, being single-threaded, the OS scheduler spreads it across cores, so the real impact is event-loop / connection freeze, not machine-wide CPU exhaustion. References • RFC 4254 §5.1 (channel "maximum packet size"; behavior for 0 is undefined). • The same `maximum packet size = 0` send-loop wedge was confirmed in several other independent SSH implementations (different languages/runtimes) and reported to each maintainer separately. Credits Reported by zhangph (afldl), 2026-06-20. ```