GHSA-wwx6-x28x-8259 russh: Post-decompression SSH packet size was not bounded, allowing remote oversized compressed packets

• crates.io russh: >= 0.34.0, < 0.61.1 → fixed in 0.61.1

Summary When SSH compression is enabled, `russh` accepted compressed packets whose on-wire size passed the normal transport packet-length checks but whose decompressed size was much larger. This allowed a remote peer to send oversized post-decompression packets that should have been rejected. In current releases, this is a remote denial-of-service / resource-exhaustion issue in the post-decompression receive path. In older releases before `0.58.0`, the same remote decompression path used `CryptoVec`, which appears to make the historical impact worse. Details The normal SSH transport read path enforces a packet-length limit before the packet body is read: • `russh/src/cipher/mod.rs` However, RFC 4253 compression is applied to the SSH `payload` field only. The `packet_length` field and MAC are computed over the compressed payload, so a packet that is reasonably sized on the wire can still expand to a much larger message body after decompression. In `russh`, compressed packet bodies are later decompressed in: • `russh/src/compression.rs` • `russh/src/client/mod.rs` • `russh/src/server/session.rs` Before the fix, `Decompress::decompress()` grew its output buffer by repeated doubling and did not enforce a separate post-decompression ceiling. That meant a peer could send a small compressed packet that passed the normal on-wire transport length checks and then inflate it into a much larger packet after decompression. It was verified that an attacker-crafted compressed payload can stay below the normal `256 KiB` implementation transport packet cap while still inflating above the intended post-decompression bound. In other words, this is not only a "large on-wire packet" issue. Version detail: • The underlying post-decompression bounds bug appears to affect `russh` as far back as `0.34.0`. • In historical releases `>= 0.34.0, = 0.58.0`, non-secret packet/decompression buffers were moved off `CryptoVec` and onto `Vec`, but the post-decompression size still remained unbounded. So the bug class remained reachable remotely, but the maintained-line impact is a current remote DoS / oversized-packet-acceptance issue rather than the older `CryptoVec`-based abort story. • The maintained-line fix was verified against `0.60.2`. Compression is not selected in a default-vs-default `russh` session because the default preference order puts `none` first. However, the default server configuration still advertises `zlib` and `[email protected]`, and server-side negotiation follows the client's preference order for common algorithms. A client that prefers compression can therefore negotiate it with a default `russh` server. OpenSSH portable was checked at `/home/mjc/projects/openssh-portable` commit `45b30e0a5`. OpenSSH enforces a `256 KiB` transport packet cap before decompression, but it does not reuse that cap after decompression. Instead, decompression writes to an `sshbuf`, which is indirectly bounded by OpenSSH's `SSHBUF_SIZE_MAX` hard maximum of `0x8000000` bytes (`128 MiB`). The patch direction should follow that model: add an explicit post-decompression ceiling of `128 MiB`, rather than assuming the compressed transport packet cap also bounds decompressed payload size. Relevant OpenSSH reference points: • `/home/mjc/projects/openssh-portable/packet.c`: `PACKET_MAX_SIZE (256 * 1024)` • `/home/mjc/projects/openssh-portable/packet.c`: `uncompress_buffer()` inflates into `compression_buffer` • `/home/mjc/projects/openssh-portable/sshbuf.h`: `SSHBUF_SIZE_MAX 0x8000000` RFC / OpenSSH Comparison RFC 4253 section 6 defines the binary packet format: • `packet_length` • `padding_length` • `payload` • random padding • MAC RFC 4253 section 6.2 says that, when compression is negotiated, the `payload` field is compressed, and that `packet_length` and MAC are computed from the compressed payload. The RFC also says implementations should check that packet length is reasonable to avoid denial-of-service and buffer-overflow attacks. That means the pre-decompression transport packet length check is necessary but not sufficient. A correct implementation still needs a reasonable bound on the decompressed payload that becomes parser input. OpenSSH provides such a bound indirectly through `sshbuf`'s hard maximum. The `russh` fix should make the corresponding post-decompression bound explicit. PoC There were two kinds of proof: • a wire-cap sanity test showing an attacker-crafted best-compressed `DEBUG` payload can stay below the normal SSH transport packet cap while still inflating beyond the intended post-decompression bound • direct client and server receive-path tests that exercise the oversized post-decompression behavior itself The current in-tree regression tests are: • `tests::compress::oversized_debug_payload_can_stay_below_wire_cap` • `compression::tests::oversized_decompressed_packet_is_rejected` • `client::tests::compressed_debug_is_ignored_after_client_parses_it` • `client::tests::oversized_compressed_debug_is_rejected_before_client_ignores_it` • `server::session::tests::compressed_debug_is_ignored_after_server_parses_it` • `server::session::tests::oversized_compressed_debug_is_rejected_before_server_ignores_it` The important behavior is: 1. An attacker-crafted best-compressed `DEBUG` payload can stay below the normal `256 KiB` transport packet cap while still inflating beyond `128 MiB`. 2. In the direct client and server receive paths, small compressed `DEBUG` packets are still ignored normally after parsing. 3. In the direct client and server receive paths, oversized compressed `DEBUG` packets are rejected before the implementation reaches the normal "ignore DEBUG" behavior. The strongest PoC for severity is the unauthenticated server-side case. A malicious client can choose `zlib` in the initial key exchange, because the default server advertises it and server-side negotiation follows the client's preference order for common algorithms. After `NEWKEYS`, but before authentication, the client can send a transport-layer `SSH_MSG_DEBUG` packet whose compressed body is below the transport packet cap but whose decompressed body exceeds the post-decompression cap. That demonstrates the `AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N` case directly: the attacker is a remote SSH client and does not need a successfully authenticated session. ```rust fn compressed_debug_payload(payload_len: usize) -> Vec { let mut payload = vec![b'A'; payload_len]; payload[0] = crate::msg::DEBUG; let mut encoder = flate2::write::ZlibEncoder::new(Vec::new(), flate2::Compression::best()); encoder.write_all(&payload).unwrap(); let compressed = encoder.finish().unwrap(); assert!( compressed.len() ) -> SSHBuffer { let mut buffer = SSHBuffer::new(); // maybe_decompress() receives the clear SSHBuffer after packet framing, // and decompresses bytes after packet_length + padding_length. buffer.buffer.extend_from_slice(&[0; 5]); buffer.buffer.extend_from_slice(&compressed); buffer } [test] fn unauthenticated_client_zlib_debug_is_rejected_by_server_before_auth() { let mut server = preauth_server_session_after_newkeys_with_zlib_decompressor(); let oversized = MAXIMUM_DECOMPRESSED_PACKET_LEN + 1024; let buffer = incoming_packet(compressed_debug_payload(oversized)); let err = server.maybe_decompress(&buffer).unwrap_err(); assert!( matches!(err, crate::Error::PacketSize(len) if len > MAXIMUM_DECOMPRESSED_PACKET_LEN) ); } ``` The equivalent wire-level attack shape is: ```text 1. Connect to a russh server using the default compres…