CVE-2026-74873

MEDIUMPre-NVD 5.55.5—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 5.5 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-08-17. a secondary CVSS source baseline 5.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 4 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%CVSS: 5.5Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

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
5.5(high)
EG Risk
40(Track)
EG Risk 40/100SSVC: Track

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%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
14%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 17, 2026

Last Modified

August 17, 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 rangeFixed inDependents
openssl-encrypt0.2.2 ... 1.4.0b8 (44 versions)1.4.0—

Weakness Classification(1)

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

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 16× in last 7d / 16× 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.

  1. 2026-08-20 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-20 14:15 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-08-20 14:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-19 14:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-08-18 14:56 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-08-18 14:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-17 15:21 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-08-17 15:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-08-17 14:44 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-08-17 14:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-08-17 11:39 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-08-17 11:13 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-08-17 11:12 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

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 in the National Vulnerability Database on August 17, 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% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 86.2% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-74873?
CVE-2026-74873 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-74873?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-74873, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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

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