Vulnerability-Lookup

GHSA-9PPH-4H37-568J

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-08-27 18:32 – Updated: 2026-08-27 18:32

Details

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 fails to validate KDF cost parameters in encrypted file metadata and keystore headers, allowing attackers to trigger unbounded memory allocation. Attackers can craft malicious encrypted files declaring arbitrarily large Argon2, scrypt, or balloon KDF parameters to exhaust system memory and crash the process without authentication.

Severity

7.5 (High)


                  
                    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

8.7 (High)


                  
                    CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

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JSON

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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-81721"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-400"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-08-27T17:21:02Z",
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 fails to validate KDF cost parameters in encrypted file metadata and keystore headers, allowing attackers to trigger unbounded memory allocation. Attackers can craft malicious encrypted files declaring arbitrarily large Argon2, scrypt, or balloon KDF parameters to exhaust system memory and crash the process without authentication.",
  "id": "GHSA-9pph-4h37-568j",
  "modified": "2026-08-27T18:32:29Z",
  "published": "2026-08-27T18:32:29Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-7894-5gw8-69hr"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-81721"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-denial-of-service-via-kdf-2"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    }
  ]
}

CVE-2026-81721 (GCVE-0-2026-81721)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-08-27 14:51 – Updated: 2026-08-27 19:28

Title

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 Denial of Service via KDF

Summary

Severity

8.7 (High)


                        
                          CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

7.5 (High)


                        
                          CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

SSVC

Exploitation: none Automatable: yes Technical Impact: partial

CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)

Decision recorded 2026-08-27 19:28 UTC

CWE

CWE-400 - Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

Assigner

VulnCheck mitre root

References

2 references

URL	Tags
https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/secur…	vendor-advisory
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encr…	third-party-advisory

Impacted products

1 product

Vendor	Product	Version
jahlives	openssl_encrypt	Affected: 0 , < 1.4.9 (semver) Unaffected: 1.4.9 (semver)

Date Public

2026-08-12 00:00

Show details on NVD website

JSON

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{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2026-81721",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "yes"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "partial"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-08-27T19:28:40.770457Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
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      "datePublic": "2026-08-12T00:00:00.000Z",
      "descriptions": [
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        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
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            "subConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
            "subIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
            "userInteraction": "NONE",
            "valueDensity": "NOT_DEFINED",
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            "integrityImpact": "NONE",
            "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
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            "userInteraction": "NONE",
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      },
      "references": [
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        },
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          "tags": [
            "third-party-advisory"
          ],
          "url": "https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-denial-of-service-via-kdf-2"
        }
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  "cveMetadata": {
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    "datePublished": "2026-08-27T14:51:15.109Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-08-27T11:13:14.063Z",
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Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base model, served locally by ML-Gateway. They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.

Action not permitted

GHSA-9PPH-4H37-568J

CVE-2026-81721 (GCVE-0-2026-81721)

Tags

Sightings

Nomenclature