CVE-2026-81721: DoS (CVSS 7.5)

Description

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 fails to validate KDF cost parameters in encrypted file metadata and keystore headers, allowing attackers to trigger unbounded memory allocation. Attackers can craft malicious encrypted files declaring arbitrarily large Argon2, scrypt, or balloon KDF parameters to exhaust system memory and crash the process without authentication.

Is your site exposed to CVE-2026-81721?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

7.5

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0039

Probability of exploitation

0.33%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

References

Other References

https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-7894-5gw8-69hr https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-denial-of-service-via-kdf-2

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-81721? +

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 fails to validate KDF cost parameters in encrypted file metadata and keystore headers, allowing attackers to trigger unbounded memory allocation. Attackers can craft malicious encrypted files declaring arbitrarily large Argon2, scrypt, or balloon KDF parameters to exhaust system memory and crash the process without authentication. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2026-81721? +

CVE-2026-81721 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.5 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching. The EPSS score is 0.0039, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-81721? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-45802

FPDI is a collection of PHP classes that facilitate reading pages from existing PDF documents and using them as templates …

CVE-2026-67318

axios versions >=1.13.0 (Node.js HTTP adapter) fail to enforce the configured maxBodyLength limit on streamed request bodies when requests are …

CVE-2026-42343

FastGPT is an AI Agent building platform. In versions 4.14.13 and prior, the code-sandbox component suffers from insufficient resource isolation …

CVE-2025-41361

Uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in IDF v0.10.0-0C03-03 and ZLF v0.10.0-0C03-04. The devices improperly handle TLS requests associated with PROCOME sockets, …

CVE-2025-41360

Uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in IDF v0.10.0-0C03-03 and ZLF v0.10.0-0C03-04. The device is vulnerable to a packet flooding denial of …

CVE-2024-5422

An uncontrolled resource consumption of file descriptors in SEH Computertechnik utnserver Pro, SEH Computertechnik utnserver ProMAX, SEH Computertechnik INU-100 allows …

CVE-2026-81721