CVE-2026-42770: FFC-DH Peer Validation Uses Attacker-Supplied q

Is it exploited?

Not on CISA's list. CISA has not added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of 29 Oct 2026. If CISA adds it, this page shows it as known exploited.

How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?

0.5%

EPSS score, percentile 43 of all scored records. A probability estimated by FIRST, not a report of exploitation.

How severe?

3.7 Low

CVSS v3.1 base score, from CISA's enrichment of the record

What should I do?

CISA has set no required action, because the vulnerability is not in KEV.

Advisories and patches (6)

Which versions are affected?

Affected

• from 4.0.0 to before 4.0.1
• from 3.6.0 to before 3.6.3
• from 3.5.0 to before 3.5.7
• from 3.4.0 to before 3.4.6
• from 3.0.0 to before 3.0.21

Versions by product

Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of 29 Oct 2026; FIRST EPSS, as of 29 Oct 2026; CVE List, as of 29 Oct 2026. About the data.

What to do

Advisories and patches

• 4.0.1 git commit (Patch)
• 3.6.3 git commit (Patch)
• 3.5.7 git commit (Patch)
• 3.4.6 git commit (Patch)
• 3.0.21 git commit (Patch)
• OpenSSL Advisory (Vendor advisory)

This summary is based on the CVE record as of 29 Oct 2026. Check the vendor's advisory before you act: affected versions and fixes can change.

Affected products and versions

As listed in the CVE record.

Versions not listed are: unaffected.

Source: CVE List, as of 29 Oct 2026. About the data.

About this vulnerability

Issue summary: When EVP_PKEY_derive_set_peer() is called with a DHX (X9.42) peer key, the peer key is not properly checked for the subgroup membership. Impact summary: A malicious peer which presents an X9.42 key carrying the victim's p and g parameters, a forged q = r (a small prime factor of the cofactor (p−1)/q_local), and a public value Y of order r can recover the victim's private key after…

Summary: CVE record, as of 29 Oct 2026.

• CISA has not added CVE-2026-42770 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, as of 29 Oct 2026.
• The CVE record was published on 9 Jun 2026.
• The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 3.7 (Low), taken from CISA's enrichment of the record.
• FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.5% (percentile 43), as of 29 Oct 2026. EPSS is a statistical estimate, not a report of exploitation.
• CISA's SSVC assessment in the CVE record: exploitation none, automatable no, technical impact partial.
• The credits in the CVE record name Anthropic (Claude) as finder.

Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of 29 Oct 2026; CVE List, as of 29 Oct 2026; FIRST EPSS, as of 29 Oct 2026. About the data.

Description

FFC-DH Peer Validation Uses Attacker-Supplied q

Issue summary: When EVP_PKEY_derive_set_peer() is called with a DHX (X9.42) peer key, the peer key is not properly checked for the subgroup membership. Impact summary: A malicious peer which presents an X9.42 key carrying the victim's p and g parameters, a forged q = r (a small prime factor of the cofactor (p−1)/q_local), and a public value Y of order r can recover the victim's private key after a small number of key exchange attempts. When EVP_PKEY_derive_set_peer() is called with a DHX (X9.42) peer key, the subgroup membership check Y^q ≡ 1 (mod p) is performed using the peer's own q parameter, not the local key's q. The peer's domain parameters are then matched against the domain parameters of the private key, but the value of q is not compared. A malicious peer who presents an X9.42 key carrying the victim's p, g, a forged q = r (a small prime factor of the cofactor), and a public value Y of order r passes all checks. The shared secret then takes only r distinct values, leaking priv mod r. Repeating for each small-prime factor of the cofactor and combining via CRT recovers the full private key (Lim–Lee / small-subgroup-confinement attack). The realistic attack surface is narrow: principally CMP deployments with long-lived RA/CA DHX keys and bespoke enterprise or government applications using X9.42 DHX static keys with interactive protocols and therefore this issue was assigned Low severity. The FIPS modules in 4.0, 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.1.2 and 3.0 are affected by this issue.

Source: CVE List, as of 29 Oct 2026. About the data.

Timeline

Known exploited OpenSSL vulnerabilities

• CVE-2014-0160: OpenSSL Information Disclosure Vulnerability (added 4 May 2022)