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.
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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Advisories
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Fixes
Solution
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Workaround
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References
History
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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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: openssl
Published:
Updated: 2026-06-09T16:03:26.679Z
Reserved: 2026-04-29T09:22:27.968Z
Link: CVE-2026-42766
No data.
Status : Received
Published: 2026-06-09T17:17:07.970
Modified: 2026-06-09T17:17:07.970
Link: CVE-2026-42766
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses