CVE-2026-81697

MEDIUMPre-NVD 5.55.5—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 5.5 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-08-27. a secondary CVSS source baseline 5.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 3 sources updated this week
5.5EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 5.5Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

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

openssl_encrypt (pip package openssl-encrypt) versions <= 1.4.8 contain a CWD-relative configuration file resolution flaw in crypt_settings.py, where CONFIG_FILE (originally the absolute per-user path ~/.crypt_settings.json) is reassigned at line 84 to the bare relative name 'crypt_settings.json'. As a result, the legacy Tk GUI's SettingsTab reads and writes KDF settings from crypt_settings.json in the process launch (current working) directory instead of the user's home directory. An attacker who plants a malicious crypt_settings.json (e.g. sha256:1 with all memory-hard KDFs disabled) can silently downgrade encryption performed in that GUI session to roughly one hash round, bypassing the weak-KDF preflight and enabling offline brute-force attacks against the resulting ciphertext. Fixed in 1.4.9.

CVSS v3
5.5
EG Score
5.5(high)
EG Risk
25(Track)
EG Risk 25/100SSVC: 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
Severity55% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
5%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 27, 2026

Last Modified

August 31, 2026

Advisory Details (2)

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

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 KDF Downgrade via CWD-relative Configuration | Advisories | VulnCheck

https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-kdf-downgrade-via-cwd-relative-configuration
github Patch Available

Legacy GUI reads KDF settings from a CWD-relative crypt_settings.json, enabling a planted KDF downgrade · Advisory · jahlives/openssl_encrypt · GitHub

https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-7j2v-g84w-m75v

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-81697(1)

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

Weakness Classification(1)

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

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 17× in last 7d / 62× 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 03:43 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-09-19 03:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-09-18 19:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-18 03:27 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-09-18 03:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-09-17 03:11 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-09-17 03:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-09-16 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-16 05:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-09-16 02:38 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-09-16 02:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-09-15 03:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-09-15 03:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-09-15 02:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-09-14 01:59 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-09-14 01:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-09-13 01:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-09-12 01:28 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-09-12 01:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-09-11 01:12 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-09-11 01:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-09-10 00:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-09-09 00:41 UTCEG score recompute
Show 37 more
  1. 2026-09-09 00:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-09-08 22:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-07 21:54 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-09-07 21:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-09-06 21:39 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-09-06 21:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-09-06 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-09-05 21:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-09-04 21:03 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-09-04 21:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-09-04 05:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-09-03 20:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-09-02 20:29 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-09-02 20:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-09-02 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-09-01 17:07 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-09-01 17:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-09-01 13:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-09-01 04:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-09-01 04:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-31 16:32 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-08-31 16:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-08-31 16:16 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-08-31 16:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-30 19:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-08-30 18:19 UTCEG score recompute
  28. 2026-08-30 18:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
  29. 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-08-29 18:04 UTCEG score recompute
  31. 2026-08-29 18:04 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-08-28 21:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-08-28 17:45 UTCEG score recompute
  34. 2026-08-28 17:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-08-27 17:25 UTCEG score recompute
  36. 2026-08-27 16:47 UTCEG score recompute
  37. 2026-08-27 16:43 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-81697?
CVE-2026-81697 is a medium vulnerability published on August 27, 2026. opensslencrypt (pip package openssl-encrypt) versions <= 1.4.8 contain a CWD-relative configuration file resolution flaw in cryptsettings.py, where CONFIGFILE (originally the absolute per-user path ~/.cryptsettings.json) is reassigned at line 84 to the bare relative name 'cryptsettings.json'. As a…
When was CVE-2026-81697 disclosed?
CVE-2026-81697 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 27, 2026, with the most recent update on August 31, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-81697 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-81697 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 95.5% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-81697?
CVE-2026-81697 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-81697?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-81697, 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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