AEAD Forgeries with Empty Ciphertext When Using EVP_Cipher() (OpenSSL OpenSSL)
At a glance
- Source
- NVD
- EPSS
- EPSS 0.25 % · percentile 17 ()
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Published
- Updated
- Assigner
- openssl
- NVD status
- Analyzed
Description
Issue summary: ChaCha20-Poly1305 and AES-OCB decryption with an empty ciphertext can report success without verifying the supplied authentication tag when the operation is finalized by calling the EVP_Cipher() function. Impact summary: Applications calling EVP_Cipher() on an empty ciphertext and expecting the call to check the AEAD tag may accept forged messages. CWE: CWE-354 (Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value) Description: The EVP_Cipher() API call for AEAD ciphers behaves like a one shot encryption and decryption call. It also verifies the AEAD tag after the decryption operation. However for AES-OCB and ChaCha20-Poly1305 ciphers it skipped the AEAD tag verification when an empty ciphertext was passed to the function. The callers of this function might believe that a successful return indicates a valid AEAD tag for these ciphers, even when that has not truly been validated in this case. FIPS impact: no The FIPS modules in 4.0, 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, and 3.0 are not affected by this CVE as the affected algorithms are not FIPS approved and thus not implemented in the FIPS module.
Weaknesses (CWE)
- CWE-354 — Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value
References
- https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260825.txt
- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/6c7aa6f8f6449b7fe0137ee8be65fcd239bd7d6a
- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/3621257986e27e540bf96a11570929a6e5a9e05b
- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/bdeb0cd994d915342787f117ee75044f0dc36f34
- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/bf95f5f772e9362f87b25cfa2f8cb15d984865b9
- https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/119ab9555dc62275bbd71f6f49529b1a44feba42
Scores
| Version | Score | Vector | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | CRITICAL 9.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N | CISA-ADP |
| CVSS 3.1 | CRITICAL 9.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N | NVD · 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (Secondary) |
European references
- ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-65488
- GCVE · GCVE-0-2026-75803
CERT-FR advisories
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-1390 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans Tenable Network Monitor · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-1385 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits VMware · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-1351 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans Oracle MySQL · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-1349 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans Oracle Database Server · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-1256 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-1249 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits VMware · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-1079 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans OpenSSL · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
Affected configurations (NVD CPE)
cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 3.0.0 < 3.0.22cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 3.4.0 < 3.4.7cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 3.5.0 < 3.5.8cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 3.6.0 < 3.6.4cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 4.0.0 < 4.0.2
Affected products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
| OpenSSL · OpenSSL | affected 4.0.0 < 4.0.2 ; affected 3.6.0 < 3.6.4 ; affected 3.5.0 < 3.5.8 ; affected 3.4.0 < 3.4.7 ; affected 3.0.0 < 3.0.22 |
Sources
| Source | Licence |
|---|---|
| CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5) | CVE Program Terms of Use |
| EPSS (FIRST.org) | FIRST — attribution requested |
| ENISA EUVD | ENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged |
| CERT-FR (ANSSI) | Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0 |
| NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds | Public domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD |