CVE-2026-81699Hinoki check available

Process exhaustion via unchecked KDF costs

Published Aug 27, 2026 · Updated Aug 27, 2026

Denial of service in OpenSSL Encrypt before 1.4.9 allows attackers to crash or wedge a process with a crafted encrypted file. Decryption, keystore, identity, and portable-USB paths accept attacker-controlled Argon2 memory, scrypt N, and Balloon space-cost values and begin KDF work without enforcing memory or time ceilings. Processing occurs before password verification, so opening an untrusted file can consume unbounded CPU and memory and interrupt the invoking CLI or GUI process.

CVSS severityUnavailable
Unscored
EPSS probability0.35%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkAvailable
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in OpenSSL Encrypt before 1.4.9 allows attackers to crash or wedge a process with a crafted encrypted file. Decryption, keystore, identity, and portable-USB paths accept attacker-controlled Argon2 memory, scrypt N, and Balloon space-cost values and begin KDF work without enforcing memory or time ceilings. Processing occurs before password verification, so opening an untrusted file can consume unbounded CPU and memory and interrupt the invoking CLI or GUI process.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-81699
Published
Aug 27, 2026
Updated
Aug 27, 2026
Vendor
jahlives
Product
OpenSSL Encrypt
Classifications
T1499
Attack vector
local
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

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Is a vulnerable build present?

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  1. Affected versionversion=0 <1.4.9

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

jahlives · OpenSSL Encryptversion=0 <1.4.9

Published CVSS scores

No CVSS assessment is available in this record.

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.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

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

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Your stack

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