CVE-2026-81689

HIGHPre-NVD 7.57.5—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score 7.5 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-08-27. a secondary CVSS source baseline 7.5; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
Trending — 4 sources updated this week
7.5EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 7.5Exploit: 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 1.4.9 derive the remote-pepper wrap key using unsalted HKDF-SHA256 or bare SHA-256 of the password, allowing identical keys across all users and files. Attackers with access to wrapped pepper blobs can precompute a single dictionary table and perform fleet-wide offline password guessing at hardware speed to recover user passwords.

CVSS v3
7.5
EG Score
7.5(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
Severity75% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
10%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 27, 2026

Last Modified

August 28, 2026

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Aug 27, 2026
Patch available. Sources: github.
generic

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 Weak Pepper Key Derivation | Advisories | VulnCheck

https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-weak-pepper-key-derivation
github Patch Available

Remote pepper wrap key derived as unsalted HKDF(password) enabling fleet-wide offline password guessing · Advisory · jahlives/openssl_encrypt · GitHub

https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-3v63-778v-3mvp

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-81689(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 13× in last 7d / 13× 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. 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-29 19:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-08-29 08:08 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-08-29 08:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-08-28 21:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-28 20:43 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-08-28 20:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-08-28 16:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-08-28 04:46 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-08-28 04:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-08-27 17:25 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-08-27 16:47 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-08-27 16:43 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-81689?
CVE-2026-81689 is a high vulnerability published on August 27, 2026. openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 derive the remote-pepper wrap key using unsalted HKDF-SHA256 or bare SHA-256 of the password, allowing identical keys across all users and files. Attackers with access to wrapped pepper blobs can precompute a single dictionary table and perform fleet-wide…
When was CVE-2026-81689 disclosed?
CVE-2026-81689 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 27, 2026, with the most recent update on August 28, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-81689 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-81689 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 90.4% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-81689?
CVE-2026-81689 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-81689?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-81689, 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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