CVE-2026-81721
openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 Denial of Service via KDF
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 8.7 High
- Published
- Aug 27, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 1, 2026
- Reserved
- Aug 27, 2026
Description
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.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 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 | VulnCheck |
| 3.1 | 7.5 High | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H | VulnCheck |
Weaknesses
- CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
openssl_encryptjahlives |
|
References
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-7894-5gw8-69hr)vendor-advisory
- VulnCheck Advisory: openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 Denial of Service via KDFthird-party-advisory
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