Denial of Service via PKCS#12 NULL pointer deref in OpenSSL 1.1.1-3.6
CVE-2026-22795 Published on January 27, 2026
Missing ASN1_TYPE validation in PKCS#12 parsing
Issue summary: An invalid or NULL pointer dereference can happen in
an application processing a malformed PKCS#12 file.
Impact summary: An application processing a malformed PKCS#12 file can be
caused to dereference an invalid or NULL pointer on memory read, resulting
in a Denial of Service.
A type confusion vulnerability exists in PKCS#12 parsing code where
an ASN1_TYPE union member is accessed without first validating the type,
causing an invalid pointer read.
The location is constrained to a 1-byte address space, meaning any
attempted pointer manipulation can only target addresses between 0x00 and 0xFF.
This range corresponds to the zero page, which is unmapped on most modern
operating systems and will reliably result in a crash, leading only to a
Denial of Service. Exploiting this issue also requires a user or application
to process a maliciously crafted PKCS#12 file. It is uncommon to accept
untrusted PKCS#12 files in applications as they are usually used to store
private keys which are trusted by definition. For these reasons, the issue
was assessed as Low severity.
The FIPS modules in 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue,
as the PKCS12 implementation is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
OpenSSL 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.0 and 1.1.1 are vulnerable to this issue.
OpenSSL 1.0.2 is not affected by this issue.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-22795 can be exploited with local system access, requires user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have no impact on confidentiality and integrity, and a high impact on availability.
Weakness Type
Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions
The software does not check or incorrectly checks for unusual or exceptional conditions that are not expected to occur frequently during day to day operation of the software.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-22795
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Affected Versions
OpenSSL:- Version 3.6.0 and below 3.6.1 is affected.
- Version 3.5.0 and below 3.5.5 is affected.
- Version 3.4.0 and below 3.4.4 is affected.
- Version 3.3.0 and below 3.3.6 is affected.
- Version 3.0.0 and below 3.0.19 is affected.
- Version 1.1.1 and below 1.1.1ze is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.