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CVE-2026-28386: Openssl Out of Bounds Read (CVSS 7.5)

CVE-2026-28386 is a high severity out of bounds read in Openssl with a CVSS score of 7.5. Apply the vendor fix and confirm exposure on internet facing and business critical assets first.

Last updated: Jul 24, 2026

Quick answer

Direct answer

CVE-2026-28386 is a high severity out of bounds read in Openssl with a CVSS score of 7.5. Apply the vendor fix and confirm exposure on internet facing and business critical assets first.

Risk scores

CVSS base score
7.5HIGH
EPSS probability
0.33%
Higher than 24 percent of all CVEs
CISA KEV
Not listed
CVSS metricWhat it means
Attack vector (AV:N)Network: reachable remotely
Attack complexity (AC:L)Low complexity
Privileges required (PR:N)No privileges required
User interaction (UI:N)No user interaction
Scope (S:U)Scope unchanged
Confidentiality (C:N)No confidentiality impact
Integrity (I:N)No integrity impact
Availability (A:H)High availability impact

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

About Openssl

CVE-2026-28386 affects Openssl, a product from Openssl. Before acting, confirm where Openssl runs in your estate, who owns it and whether it is reachable from the internet, because exposure decides real risk more than the score alone.

What the flaw is

In plain terms: Issue summary: Applications using AES-CFB128 encryption or decryption on systems with AVX-512 and VAES support can trigger an out-of-bounds read of up to 15 bytes when processing partial cipher blocks. Impact summary: This out-of-bounds read may trigger a crash which leads to Denial of Service for an application if the input buffer ends at a memory page boundary and the following page is unmapped. There is no information disclosure as the over-read bytes are not written to output. The vulnerable code path is only reached when processing partial blocks (when a previous call left an incomplete block and the current call provides fewer bytes than needed to complete it). Additionally, the input buffer must be positioned at a page boundary with the following page unmapped. CFB mode is not used in TLS/DTLS protocols, which use CBC, GCM, CCM, or ChaCha20-Poly1305 instead. For these reasons the issue was assessed as Low severity according to our Security Policy. Only x86-64 systems with AVX-512 and VAES instruction support are affected. Other architectures and systems without VAES support use different code paths that are not affected. OpenSSL FIPS module in 3.6 version is affected by this issue.

The weakness class is Out of Bounds Read. The program reads memory past the end of a buffer, leaking data or crashing.

Based on its CVSS vector, the flaw can be reached over the network, needs no login, and needs no user interaction. Apply the vendor fix and confirm exposure on internet facing and business critical assets first.

Affected versions and timeline

FieldDetail
ProductOpenssl
Affected versionsOpenssl from 3.6.0 before 3.6.2
PublishedApr 7, 2026
Last modifiedJul 24, 2026
Added to CISA KEVNot listed
Assigning CNAopenssl-security@openssl.org

How to detect it

  • Inventory every instance of Openssl and record the running version against the affected range above.
  • Check external attack surface scans for internet facing instances of the component.
  • Review logs on affected systems for unusual requests, errors or new processes around the vulnerable function.
  • Confirm with an authenticated vulnerability scan once your scanner has a check for this CVE.

How to fix it

  • Apply the fixed version of Openssl named in the vendor advisory.
  • If patching must wait, restrict network access to the affected service and put it behind authentication or a web application firewall rule.
  • Rescan after the change to prove the exposure is gone, then close the ticket.

CTEM action plan

CTEM stageWhat to do for this CVE
ScopeAdd every business service that depends on Openssl to the current CTEM cycle.
DiscoverFind all instances, including shadow and cloud deployments, and record versions and exposure.
PrioritizeRank using EPSS and CVSS together with asset exposure and business impact.
ValidateConfirm the flaw is reachable and exploitable in your environment and that compensating controls work.
MobilizeAssign the fix to the asset owner with a due date matched to the priority, then verify closure.

CWE References

Technical References

Frequently asked questions

CVE-2026-28386 is a high severity out of bounds read in Openssl with a CVSS score of 7.5. Apply the vendor fix and confirm exposure on internet facing and business critical assets first.

Related CVEs

CRITICAL9.8
CVE-2026-31789
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Issue summary: Converting an excessively large OCTET STRING value to a hexadecimal string leads to a heap buffer overflow on 32 bit platforms. Impact summary: A heap buffer overflow may lead to a crash or possibly an attacker controlled code execution or other undefined behavior. If an attacker can supply a crafted X.509 certificate with an excessively large OCTET STRING value in extensions such as the Subject Key Identifier (SKID) or Authority Key Identifier (AKID) which are being converted to hex, the size of the buffer needed for the result is calculated as multiplication of the input length by 3. On 32 bit platforms, this multiplication may overflow resulting in the allocation of a smaller buffer and a heap buffer overflow. Applications and services that print or log contents of untrusted X.509 certificates are vulnerable to this issue. As the certificates would have to have sizes of over 1 Gigabyte, printing or logging such certificates is a fairly unlikely operation and only 32 bit platforms are affected, this issue was assigned Low severity. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

Apr 7, 2026
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Issue summary: During processing of a crafted CMS EnvelopedData message with KeyTransportRecipientInfo a NULL pointer dereference can happen. Impact summary: Applications that process attacker-controlled CMS data may crash before authentication or cryptographic operations occur resulting in Denial of Service. When a CMS EnvelopedData message that uses KeyTransportRecipientInfo with RSA-OAEP encryption is processed, the optional parameters field of RSA-OAEP SourceFunc algorithm identifier is examined without checking for its presence. This results in a NULL pointer dereference if the field is missing. Applications and services that call CMS_decrypt() on untrusted input (e.g., S/MIME processing or CMS-based protocols) are vulnerable. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

Apr 7, 2026
HIGH7.5
CVE-2026-28389
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Issue summary: During processing of a crafted CMS EnvelopedData message with KeyAgreeRecipientInfo a NULL pointer dereference can happen. Impact summary: Applications that process attacker-controlled CMS data may crash before authentication or cryptographic operations occur resulting in Denial of Service. When a CMS EnvelopedData message that uses KeyAgreeRecipientInfo is processed, the optional parameters field of KeyEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier is examined without checking for its presence. This results in a NULL pointer dereference if the field is missing. Applications and services that call CMS_decrypt() on untrusted input (e.g., S/MIME processing or CMS-based protocols) are vulnerable. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

Apr 7, 2026
HIGH7.5
CVE-2026-28388
Openssl

Issue summary: When a delta CRL that contains a Delta CRL Indicator extension is processed a NULL pointer dereference might happen if the required CRL Number extension is missing. Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to a Denial of Service for an application. When CRL processing and delta CRL processing is enabled during X.509 certificate verification, the delta CRL processing does not check whether the CRL Number extension is NULL before dereferencing it. When a malformed delta CRL file is being processed, this parameter can be NULL, causing a NULL pointer dereference. Exploiting this issue requires the X509_V_FLAG_USE_DELTAS flag to be enabled in the verification context, the certificate being verified to contain a freshestCRL extension or the base CRL to have the EXFLAG_FRESHEST flag set, and an attacker to provide a malformed CRL to an application that processes it. The vulnerability is limited to Denial of Service and cannot be escalated to achieve code execution or memory disclosure. For that reason the issue was assessed as Low severity according to our Security Policy. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

Apr 7, 2026
HIGH8.1
CVE-2026-28387
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Issue summary: An uncommon configuration of clients performing DANE TLSA-based server authentication, when paired with uncommon server DANE TLSA records, may result in a use-after-free and/or double-free on the client side. Impact summary: A use after free can have a range of potential consequences such as the corruption of valid data, crashes or execution of arbitrary code. However, the issue only affects clients that make use of TLSA records with both the PKIX-TA(0/PKIX-EE(1) certificate usages and the DANE-TA(2) certificate usage. By far the most common deployment of DANE is in SMTP MTAs for which RFC7672 recommends that clients treat as 'unusable' any TLSA records that have the PKIX certificate usages. These SMTP (or other similar) clients are not vulnerable to this issue. Conversely, any clients that support only the PKIX usages, and ignore the DANE-TA(2) usage are also not vulnerable. The client would also need to be communicating with a server that publishes a TLSA RRset with both types of TLSA records. No FIPS modules are affected by this issue, the problem code is outside the FIPS module boundary.

Apr 7, 2026
HIGH7.5
CVE-2025-69421
Openssl

Issue summary: Processing a malformed PKCS#12 file can trigger a NULL pointer dereference in the PKCS12_item_decrypt_d2i_ex() function. Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to Denial of Service for an application processing PKCS#12 files. The PKCS12_item_decrypt_d2i_ex() function does not check whether the oct parameter is NULL before dereferencing it. When called from PKCS12_unpack_p7encdata() with a malformed PKCS#12 file, this parameter can be NULL, causing a crash. The vulnerability is limited to Denial of Service and cannot be escalated to achieve code execution or memory disclosure. Exploiting this issue requires an attacker to provide a malformed PKCS#12 file to an application that processes it. For that reason the issue was assessed as Low severity according to our Security Policy. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the PKCS#12 implementation is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary. OpenSSL 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.0, 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 are vulnerable to this issue.

Jan 27, 2026
All Openssl CVEs in 2026
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