Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-40194

Phpseclib ≤ 1.0.27

Published
10 April 2026
Modified
08 May 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 3.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0036 29th percentile
Risk Priority 32 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-40194 is a low-severity Observable Timing Discrepancy (CWE-208) vulnerability in Phpseclib Phpseclib. Its CVSS base score is 3.7 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Password Guessing (T1110.001); ranked at the 29th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

phpseclib is a PHP secure communications library. Starting in 0.1.1 and prior to 3.0.51, 2.0.53, and 1.0.28, phpseclib\Net\SSH2::get_binary_packet() uses PHP's != operator to compare a received SSH packet HMAC against the locally computed HMAC. != on equal-length binary strings in…

more

PHP uses memcmp(), which short-circuits on the first differing byte. This is a real variable-time comparison (CWE-208), proven by scaling benchmarks. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.0.51, 2.0.53, and 1.0.28.

CWE(s)
CWE-208

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1110.001 Password Guessing Credential Access
Adversaries with no prior knowledge of legitimate credentials within the system or environment may guess passwords to attempt access to accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1087 Account Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of valid accounts, usernames, or email addresses on a system or within a compromised environment.
attack.mitre.org →
T1087.001 Local Account Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of local system accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1087.002 Domain Account Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of domain accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1087.003 Email Account Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of email addresses and accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1087.004 Cloud Account Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of cloud accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-32935Same product: Phpseclib Phpseclib
CVE-2026-55599Same product: Phpseclib Phpseclib
CVE-2023-49316Same product: Phpseclib Phpseclib
CVE-2023-52892Same product: Phpseclib Phpseclib
CVE-2023-27560Same product: Phpseclib Phpseclib
CVE-2026-41418Shared CWE-208
CVE-2024-39329Shared CWE-208
CVE-2024-45191Shared CWE-208
CVE-2026-25597Shared CWE-208
CVE-2026-54685Shared CWE-208

Affected Assets

phpseclib
phpseclib
≤ 1.0.27 · 2.0.0 — 2.0.53 · 3.0.0 — 3.0.51

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V11.2.4

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing can include timing analysis or side-channel test cases that reveal observable timing discrepancies.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles can mandate constant-time algorithms and side-channel resistance so timing discrepancies are never introduced.

SC-13 Cryptographic Protection partial match

Requiring approved cryptographic modules and algorithms implicitly demands implementations free of observable timing leaks.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require constant-time implementations that eliminate observable timing discrepancies.

References