CVE-2014-2899 in CyaSSL
Summary
by MITRE
wolfSSL CyaSSL before 2.9.4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference) via (1) a request for the peer certificate when a certificate parsing failure occurs or (2) a client_key_exchange message when the ephemeral key is not found.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/11/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-2899 affects wolfSSL CyaSSL versions prior to 2.9.4 and represents a critical denial of service flaw that can be exploited by remote attackers to disrupt service availability. This vulnerability stems from improper handling of certificate parsing errors and ephemeral key validation within the SSL/TLS implementation. The flaw manifests when the cryptographic library encounters malformed certificate data or missing ephemeral keys during the SSL handshake process, leading to NULL pointer dereference conditions that cause the application to crash.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides in the certificate processing and key exchange components of the wolfSSL CyaSSL library. When a client attempts to establish a secure connection, the library performs certificate validation and key exchange operations that involve multiple internal state checks. During certificate parsing failures, the system fails to properly validate certificate data structures before attempting to access referenced memory locations, resulting in NULL pointer dereference. Similarly, during client key exchange operations, when ephemeral keys are not properly located or validated, the library attempts to dereference uninitialized or null pointers, causing the application to terminate unexpectedly.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for systems relying on wolfSSL CyaSSL for secure communications. Attackers can exploit this flaw by crafting malicious SSL/TLS handshakes that trigger either certificate parsing failures or missing ephemeral key scenarios. The impact extends beyond simple service disruption as the denial of service can be sustained through repeated exploitation attempts, potentially leading to prolonged availability issues for critical infrastructure. Systems utilizing embedded devices, IoT platforms, or constrained environments that depend on CyaSSL for secure communications face particular risk since these environments often lack robust error handling and recovery mechanisms.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-476 which identifies NULL pointer dereference as a common programming error that can lead to application crashes and denial of service conditions. This flaw also maps to ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which covers network denial of service attacks through resource exhaustion or application crashes. Organizations implementing wolfSSL CyaSSL should prioritize immediate patching to version 2.9.4 or later, as this release includes proper null pointer validation and error handling for certificate parsing and key exchange operations. Additionally, network monitoring should be enhanced to detect anomalous SSL/TLS handshake patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts, while implementing proper input validation and robust error handling mechanisms at the application level can provide additional defense in depth against similar vulnerabilities.