CVE-2026-12064: proto-default skips SSH verification
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2026-12064 is a high (CVSS 7.5) vulnerability in curl. EPSS estimates a 0.41% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 35.7% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.
Public exploit (reference, Date unknown)
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 13 · Related 11Timeline
- 03-07-2026PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 15-09-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
When a user invokes curl using a schemeless URL combined with `--proto-default` sftp (or scp), a disconnect occurs between the tool layer and libcurl. The tool layer incorrectly infers the URL scheme, which erroneously bypasses the initialization of critical SSH security options like CURLOPT_SSH_HOST_PUBLIC_KEY_SHA256 and CURLOPT_SSH_KNOWNHOSTS. Conversely, the libcurl runtime successfully honors CURLOPT_DEFAULT_PROTOCOL and establishes the connection via SFTP/SCP as specified. Because the tool layer skipped the security configuration, these SSH host verification options are silently omitted, causing curl to connect to an unverified SSH remote host without throwing an error.
CVSS metrics
7 scores · 7 sources · 1 version- OSV · AlpineEcosystem advisory · calculated7.5HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated7.5HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated7.5HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- OSV · WolfiEcosystem advisory · calculated7.5HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- OSV · ChainguardEcosystem advisory · calculated7.5HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- NVDNIST7.5HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS trend
Probability
0.41%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
36%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
Increase +0.01 pp
From 0.40% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogsNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.
Not in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
1 foundExploit Reference (hackerone.com)
Maturity: unknown
Weaknesses
CWE · root cause- CWE-297Improper Validation of Certificate with Host MismatchThe product communicates with a host that provides a certificate, but the product does not properly ensure that the certificate is actually associated with that host.
- CWE-295Improper Certificate ValidationThe product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.
Affected systems
Known conditions: network-reachable, no authentication, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Chainguard11 products
- eco-python-curl< 8.21.0-r0
- eco-python-curl-minimal< 8.21.0-r0
- eco-python-curl-minimal-bin< 8.21.0-r0
- eco-python-curl-minimal-dev< 8.21.0-r0
- eco-python-curl-minimal-doc< 8.21.0-r0
Alpine1 product
- curl≥ 7.81.0, < 8.22.0-r0 | ≥ 7.81.0, < 8.21.0-r0
Curl1 product
- curl≥ 7.81.0, < 8.14.2 | ≥ 8.15.0, < 8.16.1 | ≥ 8.17.0, < 8.20.1 | ≥ 18270893abdb19f0ca170c118f8a2847dbd304be, < ab3bb8cd8be8f9d4acb97da0418abc279182041e | 8.20.0 | 8.19.0 | 8.18.0 | 8.17.0 | 8.16.0 | 8.15.0 | 8.14.1 | 8.14.0 | 8.13.0 | 8.12.1 | 8.12.0 | 8.11.1 | 8.11.0 | 8.10.1 | 8.10.0 | 8.9.1 | 8.9.0 | 8.8.0 | 8.7.1 | 8.7.0 | 8.6.0 | 8.5.0 | 8.4.0 | 8.3.0 | 8.2.1 | 8.2.0 | 8.1.2 | 8.1.1 | 8.1.0 | 8.0.1 | 8.0.0 | 7.88.1 | 7.88.0 | 7.87.0 | 7.86.0 | 7.85.0 | 7.84.0 | 7.83.1 | 7.83.0 | 7.82.0 | 7.81.0
Debian1 product
- curlAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 8.21.0~rc3-1
Haxx1 product
- curl≥ 7.81.0, < 8.21.0
Ubuntu1 product
- curl< 8.14.1-2ubuntu1.5 | < 8.18.0-1ubuntu2.3
Wolfi1 product
- libcurl4All versions (No fix recorded)
7 vendors · 17 products