CVE-2026-74901

CRITICALPre-NVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2026-08-17. a secondary CVSS source baseline 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 4 sources updated this week
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: 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 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability in pqc.py where AES-GCM decryption failures trigger fallback to unauthenticated AES-CTR mode. Attackers can modify ciphertext in transit to bypass integrity verification and perform bit-flipping attacks without detection.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(high)
EG Risk
49(Track)
EG Risk 49/100SSVC: 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
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
15%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 17, 2026

Last Modified

August 17, 2026

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Aug 17, 2026
Patch available. Sources: github.
generic

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.0 Authentication Bypass via AES-CTR Fallback | Advisories | VulnCheck

https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-authentication-bypass-via-aes-ctr-fallback
github Patch Available

PQC fallback to unauthenticated AES-CTR when GCM fails · Advisory · jahlives/openssl_encrypt · GitHub

https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-w4j7-wfgw-r52w

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-74901(1)

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

Weakness Classification(1)

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

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 34× in last 7d / 34× 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. 2026-08-21 07:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-21 03:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-08-20 23:22 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-08-20 23:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-08-20 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-20 19:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-08-20 15:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-20 10:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-20 06:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-08-20 02:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-19 22:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-08-19 18:18 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-08-19 18:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-19 14:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-08-19 10:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-08-19 05:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-08-19 01:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-08-18 21:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-08-18 17:14 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-08-18 17:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-08-18 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-08-18 13:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-08-18 08:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 9 more
  1. 2026-08-18 04:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-08-18 00:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-08-17 20:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-08-17 16:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-08-17 15:46 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-08-17 15:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-08-17 11:38 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-08-17 11:13 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-08-17 11:12 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-74901?
CVE-2026-74901 is a critical vulnerability published on August 17, 2026. openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability in pqc.py where AES-GCM decryption failures trigger fallback to unauthenticated AES-CTR mode. Attackers can modify ciphertext in transit to bypass integrity verification and perform bit-flipping attacks without…
When was CVE-2026-74901 disclosed?
CVE-2026-74901 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-2026-74901 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-74901 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 84.6% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-74901?
CVE-2026-74901 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-74901?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-74901, 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

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