AEAD forgery via skipped empty-ciphertext tag verification
Published Aug 25, 2026 · Updated Aug 25, 2026
Integrity-check bypass in OpenSSL allows attackers to submit forged empty ChaCha20-Poly1305 or AES-OCB messages through EVP_Cipher(). The built-in cipher callbacks treat a NULL-input terminal call as success without comparing the supplied AEAD tag when ciphertext is empty. Exposure requires a consuming application to decrypt an empty ciphertext with EVP_Cipher() and trust its success result; the bounded consequence is acceptance of forged message content.
Summary
What happened
Integrity-check bypass in OpenSSL allows attackers to submit forged empty ChaCha20-Poly1305 or AES-OCB messages through EVP_Cipher(). The built-in cipher callbacks treat a NULL-input terminal call as success without comparing the supplied AEAD tag when ciphertext is empty. Exposure requires a consuming application to decrypt an empty ciphertext with EVP_Cipher() and trust its success result; the bounded consequence is acceptance of forged message content.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-75803
- Published
- Aug 25, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 25, 2026
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-354, T1565.002
- Attack vector
- Unavailable
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 25, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo