CVE-2026-63073

Public on 2026-08-25
Modified on 2026-08-26
Description
Issue summary: OpenSSL CMP response validation passed an unexpected response
sender distinguished name directly as the format string to `ERR_raise_data()`.

Impact summary: A malicious or intercepted CMP endpoint can crash a CMP client
that enforces an expected sender or uses a pinned server certificate whose
subject becomes the default expected sender.

CWE: CWE-134 (Use of Externally-Controlled Format String)

Description: When validating a received CMP message, ossl_cmp_msg_check_update()
converts the peer-supplied sender distinguished name with X509_NAME_oneline()
and passes it directly as the format argument to ERR_raise_data(). Percent
characters survive the conversion, so a sender DN such as "CN=%s%n" reaches
BIO_vsnprintf() as an attacker-controlled format string with no matching variadic
arguments. This path is only reached when the caller configures an expected
sender or pins a server certificate, which is the normal configuration for a
CMP client validating server responses.

Since the attacker controls the format string but none of the variadic
arguments, such specifiers as %s and %n dereference or write through unrelated
stack contents and crash the client. The reliable consequence is a denial of
service, when the response comes from a malicious or intercepted CMP endpoint.
There is no controlled memory write, arbitrary-address read, or reliable path
to remote code execution.

FIPS impact: no

No FIPS modules are affected by this issue, as the CMP protocol
implementation is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
Severity
Medium severity
Medium
See what this means
CVSS v3 Base Score
5.9
See breakdown

Affected Packages

Platform Package Release Date Advisory Status
Amazon Linux 2 - Core edk2 Not Affected
Amazon Linux 2 - Core openssl Not Affected
Amazon Linux 2023 openssl Pending Fix
Amazon Linux 2 - Openssl-snapsafe Extra openssl-snapsafe Not Affected
Amazon Linux 2 - Core openssl11 Not Affected

CVSS Scores

Score Type Score Vector
Amazon Linux CVSSv3 5.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H