CVE-2026-74873

MEDIUMPre-NVD 5.55.5—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 5.5 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-08-17. The CNA's CVSS baseline 5.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: cna:vulncheck, epss, ghsa
Trending — 3 sources updated this week
5.5EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0.3%CVSS: 5.5Exploit: None knownExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 expose passwords passed via the --password CLI argument in process listings accessible to all system users. Attackers can read process arguments through ps aux or /proc/[pid]/cmdline to retrieve plaintext passwords and keystore passwords.

CVSS v3
5.5
EG Score
5.5MEDIUMmedium confidence
EG Risk
40
EG Risk 40/100CISA SSVC

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity55% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
CISA SSVC: Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
EPSS PROB
0.3%
EPSS %ILE
22nd
KEV
Not listed

CISA SSVCTrack at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.

Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable yes (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table

Published

August 17, 2026

Last Modified

October 1, 2026

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Aug 17, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: github.
generic

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.0 Password Exposure via CLI Argument | Advisories | VulnCheck

https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-password-exposure-via-cli-argument
github Patch Available🟡 PoC Available

Password visible in process list via --password CLI argument · Advisory · jahlives/openssl_encrypt · GitHub

https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-h3m5-p59h-x88p

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-74873(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
PyPI(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
openssl-encrypt0.2.2 ... 1.4.0b8 (44 versions)
  • every version up to 1.4.0: fixed in 1.4.0
—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 18× in last 7d / 77× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 134 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-10-04 23:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-10-04 21:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-10-03 17:50 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-10-03 17:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-10-03 14:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-10-02 15:47 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-10-02 15:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-10-01 19:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-10-01 15:30 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-10-01 15:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-10-01 09:46 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-10-01 09:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-09-30 10:04 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-09-30 10:04 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-09-29 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-09-29 07:22 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-09-29 07:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-09-28 13:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-09-28 07:50 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-09-28 07:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-09-27 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-09-27 08:18 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-09-27 08:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-09-26 15:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-09-26 00:28 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-09-25 02:12 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-09-25 02:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-09-24 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-23 21:33 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-09-23 21:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-09-23 17:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-22 22:01 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-09-22 22:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-09-22 16:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-09-21 22:28 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-09-21 22:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-09-21 21:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-09-20 22:55 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-09-20 22:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-09-20 20:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-09-19 23:22 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-09-19 23:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-09-18 23:50 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-09-18 23:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-09-18 19:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-09-18 00:18 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-09-18 00:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-09-17 00:28 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-09-17 00:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-09-16 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-09-16 05:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-09-16 00:55 UTCEG score recompute
  28. 2026-09-16 00:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  29. 2026-09-15 03:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-09-15 00:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  31. 2026-09-14 01:25 UTCEG score recompute
  32. 2026-09-14 01:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  33. 2026-09-13 01:53 UTCEG score recompute
  34. 2026-09-13 01:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-09-12 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-09-12 02:21 UTCEG score recompute
  37. 2026-09-12 02:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  38. 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-09-11 02:48 UTCEG score recompute
  40. 2026-09-11 02:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  41. 2026-09-10 09:35 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-09-10 03:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
  43. 2026-09-09 03:43 UTCEG score recompute
  44. 2026-09-09 03:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  45. 2026-09-08 22:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-09-07 16:12 UTCEG score recompute
  47. 2026-09-07 16:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-09-06 15:25 UTCEG score recompute
  49. 2026-09-06 15:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  50. 2026-09-06 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-09-05 15:52 UTCEG score recompute
  52. 2026-09-05 15:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  53. 2026-09-04 16:20 UTCEG score recompute
  54. 2026-09-04 16:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  55. 2026-09-04 05:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-09-03 16:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  57. 2026-09-02 17:12 UTCEG score recompute
  58. 2026-09-02 17:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  59. 2026-09-02 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-09-01 16:03 UTCEG score recompute
  61. 2026-09-01 16:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  62. 2026-09-01 13:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  63. 2026-09-01 04:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-09-01 04:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-08-31 20:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  66. 2026-08-31 09:32 UTCEG score recompute
  67. 2026-08-31 09:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  68. 2026-08-30 19:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-08-30 09:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  71. 2026-08-29 10:23 UTCEG score recompute
  72. 2026-08-29 10:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  73. 2026-08-28 21:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  74. 2026-08-28 10:50 UTCEG score recompute
  75. 2026-08-28 10:49 UTCGHSA enrichment

Related CVEs(same product + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-74873?
CVE-2026-74873 is a medium vulnerability published on August 17, 2026. openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 expose passwords passed via the --password CLI argument in process listings accessible to all system users. Attackers can read process arguments through ps aux or /proc/[pid]/cmdline to retrieve plaintext passwords and keystore passwords.
When was CVE-2026-74873 disclosed?
CVE-2026-74873 was first published on August 17, 2026, with the most recent update on October 1, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-74873 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-74873 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (22nd percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-74873?
CVE-2026-74873 has a CVSS base score of 5.5 (the CNA's own assessment, by vulncheck; NVD's own analysis pending).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-74873?
A fix for CVE-2026-74873 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2026-74873 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2026-74873

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2026-74873?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.

Book a Demo →Browse All CVEs