CVE-2026-72897: Out-of-Bounds Access After SSL_set_SSL_CTX() During a Handshake
- Is it exploited?
Not on CISA's list. CISA has not added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of . If CISA adds it, this page shows it as known exploited.
- How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?
- 0.4%
Up from 0.3% on .
EPSS score, percentile 32.9 of all scored records. A probability estimated by FIRST, not a report of exploitation.
- How severe?
- 7.5 High
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.
- Which versions are affected?
Affected
- from 4.0.0 to before 4.0.3
- from 3.6.0 to before 3.6.5
- from 3.5.0 to before 3.5.9
- from 3.4.0 to before 3.4.8
Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of ; FIRST EPSS, as of ; CVE List, as of . About the data.
What to do
Advisories and patches
This summary is based on the CVE record as of . Check the vendor's advisory before you act: affected versions and fixes can change.
Affected products and versions
As listed in the CVE record.
| Status | Versions |
|---|---|
| Affected | from 4.0.0 to before 4.0.3 |
| Affected | from 3.6.0 to before 3.6.5 |
| Affected | from 3.5.0 to before 3.5.9 |
| Affected | from 3.4.0 to before 3.4.8 |
Versions not listed are: unaffected.
Source: CVE List, as of . About the data.
About this vulnerability
Issue summary: A TLS server that calls SSL_set_SSL_CTX() to switch a connection to a different SSL_CTX part way through a handshake may access memory beyond the end of an internal array if the replacement context knows about more provider signature algorithms than the context the connection was created from. Applications which never call SSL_set_SSL_CTX() are not affected. Impact summary: A remo…
Summary: CVE record, as of .
- CISA has not added CVE-2026-72897 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, as of 29 Oct 2026.
- The CVE record was published on 29 Sep 2026.
- The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (High), taken from CISA's enrichment of the record.
- FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.4% (percentile 32.9), 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 yes, technical impact partial.
- The credits in the CVE record name AISLE as finder.
Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of ; CVE List, as of ; FIRST EPSS, as of . About the data.
Description
Out-of-Bounds Access After SSL_set_SSL_CTX() During a Handshake
Issue summary: A TLS server that calls SSL_set_SSL_CTX() to switch a connection to a different SSL_CTX part way through a handshake may access memory beyond the end of an internal array if the replacement context knows about more provider signature algorithms than the context the connection was created from. Applications which never call SSL_set_SSL_CTX() are not affected. Impact summary: A remote peer may be able to cause a small out-of-bounds read, and in some circumstances a fixed-value out-of-bounds write, on the server heap. This may lead to a Denial of Service. CWE: CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write Description: A TLS connection records how many certificate slots it has when it is created, taken from the SSL_CTX that created it: the built-in certificate types plus one slot for each provider TLS-SIGALG entry that context was aware of. That count sizes an internal array of per-slot certificate validity flags. An application may replace a connection's SSL_CTX part way through the handshake by calling SSL_set_SSL_CTX(), most commonly from a servername callback in order to serve a different virtual host. Doing so did not refresh the recorded count. A provider signature algorithm's slot index is its position in the list of whichever context resolves it, so if the replacement context is aware of more of them than the original, an algorithm offered by the peer can resolve to an index beyond the end of the array. Processing the peer's signature algorithms then reads one four byte word past the end for each such algorithm and, where the word read is zero, writes a fixed value over it. A peer offering many of them can corrupt heap metadata and abort the process. Only provider signature algorithms which occupy one of the excess slots, and which the server also has configured, have this effect. Codepoints the replacement context does not recognise are discarded without being resolved to a slot, and provider signature algorithms are usable only from TLS 1.3. The two contexts must therefore be aware of different numbers of provider signature algorithms, which requires separate library contexts, a provider loaded between the two being created, or providers which differ in what they advertise - in 4.0, for example, the default provider advertises SM2 where the FIPS provider does not. A deployment meeting the condition is also unable to negotiate the affected algorithms with legitimate clients, since the same stale count hides the corresponding certificates, so the misconfiguration is likely to be noticed. For that reason, and because the configuration is not the default, this issue has been assessed as Low severity. FIPS impact: no No FIPS modules are affected by this issue as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
Source: CVE List, as of . About the data.
Weakness
CWE-787
- CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write
CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| CVE record published |
Known exploited OpenSSL vulnerabilities
- CVE-2014-0160: OpenSSL Information Disclosure Vulnerability