Duty Analyst: Joseph McCarthy

CVE-2026-28388

Published: 2026-04-07 22:16:21 | Last modified: 2026-05-12 13:17:33

HIGH CVSS 7.5
No EPSS data

Description

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.

CVSS details

Severity
high
Score
7.5
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS

This CVE is not currently listed in the EPSS dataset.

Show JSON
{
    "cve": {
        "id": "CVE-2026-28388",
        "cveTags": [],
        "metrics": {
            "cvssMetricV31": [
                {
                    "type": "Primary",
                    "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
                    "cvssData": {
                        "scope": "UNCHANGED",
                        "version": "3.1",
                        "baseScore": 7.5,
                        "attackVector": "NETWORK",
                        "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
                        "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
                        "integrityImpact": "NONE",
                        "userInteraction": "NONE",
                        "attackComplexity": "LOW",
                        "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
                        "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
                        "confidentialityImpact": "NONE"
                    },
                    "impactScore": 3.6,
                    "exploitabilityScore": 3.9
                },
                {
                    "type": "Secondary",
                    "source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
                    "cvssData": {
                        "scope": "UNCHANGED",
                        "version": "3.1",
                        "baseScore": 7.5,
                        "attackVector": "NETWORK",
                        "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
                        "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
                        "integrityImpact": "NONE",
                        "userInteraction": "NONE",
                        "attackComplexity": "LOW",
                        "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
                        "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
                        "confidentialityImpact": "NONE"
                    },
                    "impactScore": 3.6,
                    "exploitabilityScore": 3.9
                }
            ]
        },
        "published": "2026-04-07T22:16:20.863",
        "references": [
            {
                "url": "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/59c3b3158553ab53275bbbccca5cb305d591cf2e",
                "tags": [
                    "Patch"
                ],
                "source": "openssl-security@openssl.org"
            },
            {
                "url": "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/5a0b4930779cd2408880979db765db919da55139",
                "tags": [
                    "Patch"
                ],
                "source": "openssl-security@openssl.org"
            },
            {
                "url": "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/602542f2c0c2d5edb47128f93eac10b62aeeefb3",
                "tags": [
                    "Patch"
                ],
                "source": "openssl-security@openssl.org"
            },
            {
                "url": "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/a9d187dd1000130100fa7ab915f8513532cb3bb8",
                "tags": [
                    "Patch"
                ],
                "source": "openssl-security@openssl.org"
            },
            {
                "url": "https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/d3a901e8d9f021f3e67d6cfbc12e768129862726",
                "tags": [
                    "Patch"
                ],
                "source": "openssl-security@openssl.org"
            },
            {
                "url": "https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260407.txt",
                "tags": [
                    "Vendor Advisory"
                ],
                "source": "openssl-security@openssl.org"
            },
            {
                "url": "https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-032379.html",
                "source": "0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e"
            },
            {
                "url": "https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html",
                "source": "0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e"
            }
        ],
        "vulnStatus": "Modified",
        "weaknesses": [
            {
                "type": "Secondary",
                "source": "openssl-security@openssl.org",
                "description": [
                    {
                        "lang": "en",
                        "value": "CWE-476"
                    }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "descriptions": [
            {
                "lang": "en",
                "value": "Issue summary: When a delta CRL that contains a Delta CRL Indicator extension\nis processed a NULL pointer dereference might happen if the required CRL\nNumber extension is missing.\n\nImpact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which\nleads to a Denial of Service for an application.\n\nWhen CRL processing and delta CRL processing is enabled during X.509\ncertificate verification, the delta CRL processing does not check\nwhether the CRL Number extension is NULL before dereferencing it.\nWhen a malformed delta CRL file is being processed, this parameter\ncan be NULL, causing a NULL pointer dereference.\n\nExploiting this issue requires the X509_V_FLAG_USE_DELTAS flag to be enabled in\nthe verification context, the certificate being verified to contain a\nfreshestCRL extension or the base CRL to have the EXFLAG_FRESHEST flag set, and\nan attacker to provide a malformed CRL to an application that processes it.\n\nThe vulnerability is limited to Denial of Service and cannot be escalated to\nachieve code execution or memory disclosure. For that reason the issue was\nassessed as Low severity according to our Security Policy.\n\nThe FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue,\nas the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary."
            }
        ],
        "lastModified": "2026-05-12T13:17:33.453",
        "configurations": [
            {
                "nodes": [
                    {
                        "negate": false,
                        "cpeMatch": [
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                                "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                                "vulnerable": true,
                                "matchCriteriaId": "CE7957CC-80F0-4907-BFB5-AFB6994DDE3C",
                                "versionEndExcluding": "1.0.2zp",
                                "versionStartIncluding": "1.0.2"
                            },
                            {
                                "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                                "vulnerable": true,
                                "matchCriteriaId": "656A0540-5825-498E-A7AB-C14976FEE45D",
                                "versionEndExcluding": "1.1.1zg",
                                "versionStartIncluding": "1.1.1"
                            },
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                                "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                                "vulnerable": true,
                                "matchCriteriaId": "B28A8143-89A4-4332-A1F8-A65FB5AA829F",
                                "versionEndExcluding": "3.0.20",
                                "versionStartIncluding": "3.0.0"
                            },
                            {
                                "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                                "vulnerable": true,
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                            },
                            {
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                                "matchCriteriaId": "DCCE43D0-8F17-475D-9EE6-842F758A9905",
                                "versionEndExcluding": "3.4.5",
                                "versionStartIncluding": "3.4.0"
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                                "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
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                                "matchCriteriaId": "F6BC0271-444D-4597-BF05-DC60034EAA49",
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                        "operator": "OR"
                    }
                ]
            }
        ],
        "sourceIdentifier": "openssl-security@openssl.org"
    }
}