CVE-2026-81705

Description

openssl-encrypt before 1.4.9 fails to redact the file password in its --debug argv dump when the password is supplied via bundled short-option spellings (e.g. -apHunter2) or abbreviated long-option spellings (e.g. --passw). The sanitizer only recognized exact option names, --option=value forms, and tokens starting with -p, so these spellings bypass the redaction chokepoint and the cleartext password is written to stderr. Anyone with access to that output (terminal scrollback, merged 2>&1 output, CI job logs, or the GUI's persistent debug log) can recover the password.

References

• github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-jgvm-7jxv-cgcc · Vendor Advisory
• www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-password-cleartext-leak-via-debug · Third Party Advisory