CVE-2026-74900

jahlives openssl_encrypt

Published 17 Aug 2026 · updated 1 Sept 2026 · Analyzed

9.3 Critical · CVSS 4.0, vulncheck.com

Description

openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 contain a critical vulnerability in pqc.py where KEM decapsulation failures silently fall back to simulation mode, generating a deterministic shared secret from only 16 bytes of the private key and publicly available encapsulated key data. Attackers who obtain 16 bytes of the private key can compute the shared secret and decrypt all ciphertext, as the fallback triggers on any KEM failure without raising an error.

References

github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-p3gq-pcg9-qvfv · Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-weak-shared-secret-via-pqc-simulation-mode · Third Party Advisory