CVE-2026-81689

HIGHPre-NVD 7.57.5—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 7.5 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-08-27. a secondary CVSS source baseline 7.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 3 sources updated this week
7.5EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 7.5Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 derive the remote-pepper wrap key using unsalted HKDF-SHA256 or bare SHA-256 of the password, allowing identical keys across all users and files. Attackers with access to wrapped pepper blobs can precompute a single dictionary table and perform fleet-wide offline password guessing at hardware speed to recover user passwords.

CVSS v3
7.5
EG Score
7.5(high)
EG Risk
49(Track)
EG Risk 49/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity75% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
10%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 27, 2026

Last Modified

September 3, 2026

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Aug 27, 2026
Patch available. Sources: github.
generic

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 Weak Pepper Key Derivation | Advisories | VulnCheck

https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-weak-pepper-key-derivation
github Patch Available

Remote pepper wrap key derived as unsalted HKDF(password) enabling fleet-wide offline password guessing · Advisory · jahlives/openssl_encrypt · GitHub

https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-3v63-778v-3mvp

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-81689(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
PyPI(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
openssl-encrypt0.2.2 ... 1.4.8 (53 versions)1.4.9—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 27× in last 7d / 92× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-09-19 07:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-09-18 19:46 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-09-18 19:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-09-18 19:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-18 08:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-09-17 20:55 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-09-17 20:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-09-17 06:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-09-16 19:04 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-09-16 19:04 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-09-16 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-09-16 05:51 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-09-16 05:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-09-16 05:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-09-15 18:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-09-15 06:55 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-09-15 06:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-09-15 03:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-09-15 03:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-09-14 19:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-09-14 08:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-09-13 20:49 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-09-13 20:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-09-13 09:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-09-12 22:05 UTCEG score recompute
Show 67 more
  1. 2026-09-12 22:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-09-12 10:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-09-11 23:20 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-09-11 23:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-11 10:53 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-09-11 10:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-09-10 23:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-09-10 11:52 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-09-10 11:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-09-09 23:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-09-09 12:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-09-09 00:41 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-09-09 00:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-09-08 22:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-09-08 11:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-09-08 11:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-09-07 21:39 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-09-07 21:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-09-07 10:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-09-06 22:54 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-09-06 22:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-09-06 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-09-06 11:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  26. 2026-09-06 00:09 UTCEG score recompute
  27. 2026-09-06 00:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-09-05 15:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-09-05 12:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-09-05 01:21 UTCEG score recompute
  31. 2026-09-05 01:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEG score recompute
  33. 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  34. 2026-09-04 05:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-09-04 02:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  36. 2026-09-03 15:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  37. 2026-09-03 07:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  38. 2026-09-02 20:29 UTCEG score recompute
  39. 2026-09-02 20:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  40. 2026-09-02 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-09-02 07:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  42. 2026-09-01 19:46 UTCEG score recompute
  43. 2026-09-01 19:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-09-01 13:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-09-01 08:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  46. 2026-08-31 20:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  47. 2026-08-31 17:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-08-31 05:37 UTCEG score recompute
  49. 2026-08-31 05:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  50. 2026-08-30 19:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-08-30 18:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
  53. 2026-08-30 06:54 UTCEG score recompute
  54. 2026-08-30 06:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  55. 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-08-29 19:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  57. 2026-08-29 08:08 UTCEG score recompute
  58. 2026-08-29 08:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  59. 2026-08-28 21:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-08-28 20:43 UTCEG score recompute
  61. 2026-08-28 20:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  62. 2026-08-28 16:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  63. 2026-08-28 04:46 UTCEG score recompute
  64. 2026-08-28 04:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  65. 2026-08-27 17:25 UTCEG score recompute
  66. 2026-08-27 16:47 UTCEG score recompute
  67. 2026-08-27 16:43 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-81689?
CVE-2026-81689 is a high vulnerability published on August 27, 2026. openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 derive the remote-pepper wrap key using unsalted HKDF-SHA256 or bare SHA-256 of the password, allowing identical keys across all users and files. Attackers with access to wrapped pepper blobs can precompute a single dictionary table and perform fleet-wide…
When was CVE-2026-81689 disclosed?
CVE-2026-81689 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 27, 2026, with the most recent update on September 3, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-81689 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-81689 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 90.1% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-81689?
CVE-2026-81689 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-81689?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-81689, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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