High severity7.5NVD Advisory· Published Aug 27, 2026

CVE-2026-81689

Description

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.

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

Affected products

Jahlives/Openssl Encryptinferred2 versions
<1.4.9+ 1 more
- (no CPE)range: <1.4.9
- (no CPE)range: <1.4.9

Patches

Vulnerability mechanics

References

github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-3v63-778v-3mvpnvd
www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-weak-pepper-key-derivationnvd

News mentions

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ransomware	0.000