CVE-2026-74878
Attackers can distribute authentication attempts across multiple server instances or retry immediately after a restart to bypass rate limiting protections.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.75%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 use an in-memory rate limiter for TOTP brute-force protection that is not shared across workers and is lost on server restart. Attackers can distribute authentication attempts across multiple server instances or retry immediately after a restart to bypass rate limiting protections.
- CVSS 4.0
- 9.3 CRITICALCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/M
- EPSS
- 0.75% probability · 55th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-770
- Affected
- jahlives/openssl encrypt
- Source
- disclosure@vulncheck.com
EPSS 0.7% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-h45m-mgcp-q388Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-totp-rate-limiter-bypassThird Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.