Issue summary: A specially crafted password-encrypted CMS message
can trigger a NULL pointer dereference during CMS decryption.

Impact summary: This NULL pointer dereference leads to an application crash
and a Denial of Service.

The CMS PasswordRecipientInfo.keyDerivationAlgorithm field is defined as
OPTIONAL in the ASN.1 specification and may therefore be absent in specially
crafted inputs. During the password-based CMS decryption the OpenSSL
CMS implementation dereferences this field without first checking whether it
was present.

An attacker who supplies such a CMS message to an application performing
password-based CMS decryption can trigger an application crash, leading to
a Denial of Service.

Applications that process password-encrypted CMS messages may be affected.

The FIPS modules in 4.0, 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, and 3.0 are not affected by this
issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

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Source ID Title
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8414-1 OpenSSL vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8414-2 OpenSSL vulnerabilities
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Openssl
Openssl openssl
Vendors & Products Openssl
Openssl openssl

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Issue summary: A specially crafted password-encrypted CMS message can trigger a NULL pointer dereference during CMS decryption. Impact summary: This NULL pointer dereference leads to an application crash and a Denial of Service. The CMS PasswordRecipientInfo.keyDerivationAlgorithm field is defined as OPTIONAL in the ASN.1 specification and may therefore be absent in specially crafted inputs. During the password-based CMS decryption the OpenSSL CMS implementation dereferences this field without first checking whether it was present. An attacker who supplies such a CMS message to an application performing password-based CMS decryption can trigger an application crash, leading to a Denial of Service. Applications that process password-encrypted CMS messages may be affected. The FIPS modules in 4.0, 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
Title Possible NULL Dereference in Password-Based CMS Decryption
Weaknesses CWE-476
References

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: openssl

Published:

Updated: 2026-06-09T19:46:27.585Z

Reserved: 2026-04-29T09:22:27.968Z

Link: CVE-2026-42766

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2026-06-09T17:17:07.970

Modified: 2026-06-09T19:38:32.463

Link: CVE-2026-42766

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-06-09T18:15:10Z

Weaknesses