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.
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (7.5): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 7.5 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 1.6% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-11-10). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; 60 days if it is not.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; 60 days if it is not.
The score's inputs: In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it