CVE-2026-81689Network attack vectorHinoki check available

Password recovery via unsalted pepper wrap keys

Published Aug 27, 2026 · Updated Aug 27, 2026

Weak key derivation in jahlives OpenSSL Encrypt before 1.4.9 allows attackers to recover passwords from wrapped remote-pepper blobs. The remote-pepper wrapper uses either HKDF-SHA256 with no salt or bare SHA-256 on the password, producing the same fast-derived AES-GCM key for each matching password across users and files. Attackers must first obtain wrapped pepper blobs; that access enables one precomputed dictionary to test passwords fleet-wide at hardware speed.

CVSS severity8.7
High
EPSS probability0.20%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkAvailable
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Weak key derivation in jahlives OpenSSL Encrypt before 1.4.9 allows attackers to recover passwords from wrapped remote-pepper blobs. The remote-pepper wrapper uses either HKDF-SHA256 with no salt or bare SHA-256 on the password, producing the same fast-derived AES-GCM key for each matching password across users and files. Attackers must first obtain wrapped pepper blobs; that access enables one precomputed dictionary to test passwords fleet-wide at hardware speed.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-81689
Published
Aug 27, 2026
Updated
Aug 27, 2026
Vendor
jahlives
Product
OpenSSL Encrypt
Classifications
CWE-916, T1110.002
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 27, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 27, 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?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <1.4.9

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

jahlives · OpenSSL Encryptversion=0 <1.4.9

Published CVSS scores

7.5VulnCheckCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
8.7VulnCheckCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-916Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort
T1110.002Password Cracking

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