openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 contain a critical vulnerability in pqc.py where KEM decapsulation failures silently fall back to simulation mode, generating a deterministic shared secret from only 16 bytes of the private key and publicly available encapsulated key data. Attackers who obtain 16 bytes of the private key can compute the shared secret and decrypt all ciphertext, as the fallback triggers on any KEM failure without raising an error.
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History
Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:15:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 contain a critical vulnerability in pqc.py where KEM decapsulation failures silently fall back to simulation mode, generating a deterministic shared secret from only 16 bytes of the private key and publicly available encapsulated key data. Attackers who obtain 16 bytes of the private key can compute the shared secret and decrypt all ciphertext, as the fallback triggers on any KEM failure without raising an error. | |
| Title | openssl_encrypt before 1.4.0 Weak Shared Secret via PQC Simulation Mode | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-391 | |
| References |
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| Metrics |
cvssV3_1
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: VulnCheck
Published:
Updated: 2026-08-17T12:47:06.168Z
Reserved: 2026-08-17T10:48:45.738Z
Link: CVE-2026-74900
No data.
Status : Received
Published: 2026-08-17T11:16:45.050
Modified: 2026-08-17T11:16:45.050
Link: CVE-2026-74900
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
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Weaknesses