Issue summary: OpenSSL CMP password based protection verification only
checks whether the protectionAlg parameter was not NULL and not its
ASN.1 type, before treating it as a PBMParameter. A crafted message can
contain a parameter of a different type, which is then dereferenced as an
invalid pointer.

Impact summary: A remote, unauthenticated attacker can crash an application
acting as a CMP server that accepts PBM-protected messages, or a CMP client
talking to a malicious or intercepted CMP server, resulting in a Denial of
Service.

CWE: CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference

Description: When verifying the password-based MAC protection of a CMP
message, OpenSSL library reads the protectionAlg algorithm parameter with
X509_ALGOR_get0(), which returns both the parameter type and its value
pointer. The value is then cast to an ASN1_STRING and treated as the
expected PBMParameter after only checking that pointer is not NULL. The
parameter type returned by X509_ALGOR_get0() was never consulted.

This happens during protection verification, before any MAC is computed, so
no knowledge of the PBM shared secret is required; the only precondition is
that PBM verification is reachable. On the server side this is reached from
OSSL_CMP_SRV_process_request() for any application that stands up a CMP
server accepting PBM-protected messages, and on the client side from CMP
response validation against a malicious or on-path (MITM) server. The
reliable consequence is a denial of service; there is no memory disclosure,
no controlled memory write, and no path to code execution. CMP is a
specialized feature that an application must explicitly enable.

FIPS impact: no
As the CMP code lives outside the FIPS module boundary, no FIPS modules
are affected by this CVE.

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Source ID Title
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6465-1 openssl security update
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8678-1 OpenSSL vulnerabilities
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:00:00 +0000

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

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 13:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Issue summary: OpenSSL CMP password based protection verification only checks whether the protectionAlg parameter was not NULL and not its ASN.1 type, before treating it as a PBMParameter. A crafted message can contain a parameter of a different type, which is then dereferenced as an invalid pointer. Impact summary: A remote, unauthenticated attacker can crash an application acting as a CMP server that accepts PBM-protected messages, or a CMP client talking to a malicious or intercepted CMP server, resulting in a Denial of Service. CWE: CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference Description: When verifying the password-based MAC protection of a CMP message, OpenSSL library reads the protectionAlg algorithm parameter with X509_ALGOR_get0(), which returns both the parameter type and its value pointer. The value is then cast to an ASN1_STRING and treated as the expected PBMParameter after only checking that pointer is not NULL. The parameter type returned by X509_ALGOR_get0() was never consulted. This happens during protection verification, before any MAC is computed, so no knowledge of the PBM shared secret is required; the only precondition is that PBM verification is reachable. On the server side this is reached from OSSL_CMP_SRV_process_request() for any application that stands up a CMP server accepting PBM-protected messages, and on the client side from CMP response validation against a malicious or on-path (MITM) server. The reliable consequence is a denial of service; there is no memory disclosure, no controlled memory write, and no path to code execution. CMP is a specialized feature that an application must explicitly enable. FIPS impact: no As the CMP code lives outside the FIPS module boundary, no FIPS modules are affected by this CVE.
Title Invalid Pointer Dereference in CMP Server via Crafted protectionAlg
Weaknesses CWE-476
References

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: openssl

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-25T14:37:32.193Z

Reserved: 2026-07-15T13:10:26.188Z

Link: CVE-2026-63076

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-08-25T14:37:23.862Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-25T13:19:26.543

Modified: 2026-08-25T15:16:36.593

Link: CVE-2026-63076

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-08-25T16:45:04Z

Weaknesses