openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 Denial of Service via KDF

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-81721
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerVulnCheck
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-08-27 17:21:02 UTC
Updated2026-09-02 13:15:35 UTC
Descriptionopenssl_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.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v4.0 8.7 HIGH from [email protected]

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

EPSS: 0.003930000 probability, percentile 0.325380000 (date 2026-09-04)

Problem Types: CWE-400 | CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
4.0[email protected]Secondary8.7HIGHCVSS: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/C...
4.0CNACVSS8.7HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
3.1[email protected]Secondary7.5HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
3.1CNACVSS7.5HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS v4.0 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Sub Conf.
None
Sub Integrity
None
Sub Availability
None

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

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Application Jahlives Openssl Encrypt All All All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Jahlives Openssl Encrypt affected 1.4.9 semver Not specified
CNA Jahlives Openssl Encrypt unaffected 1.4.9 semver Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-7894-5gw8-69hr [email protected] github.com Vendor Advisory
www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-denial-of-service-via... [email protected] www.vulncheck.com Third Party Advisory
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

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