0.0
NA
CVE-2026-28388
NULL Pointer Dereference When Processing a Delta CRL
Description

Issue summary: When a delta CRL that contains a Delta CRL Indicator extension is processed a NULL pointer dereference might happen if the required CRL Number extension is missing. Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to a Denial of Service for an application. When CRL processing and delta CRL processing is enabled during X.509 certificate verification, the delta CRL processing does not check whether the CRL Number extension is NULL before dereferencing it. When a malformed delta CRL file is being processed, this parameter can be NULL, causing a NULL pointer dereference. Exploiting this issue requires the X509_V_FLAG_USE_DELTAS flag to be enabled in the verification context, the certificate being verified to contain a freshestCRL extension or the base CRL to have the EXFLAG_FRESHEST flag set, and an attacker to provide a malformed CRL to an application that processes it. The vulnerability is limited to Denial of Service and cannot be escalated to achieve code execution or memory disclosure. For that reason the issue was assessed as Low severity according to our Security Policy. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

INFO

Published Date :

April 7, 2026, 10:16 p.m.

Last Modified :

April 7, 2026, 10:16 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-28388 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Openssl openssl
Solution
A NULL pointer dereference in delta CRL processing can cause a denial of service.
  • Ensure X.509 certificate verification contexts do not use X509_V_FLAG_USE_DELTAS.
  • Update to a version of the software that addresses this vulnerability.
  • Validate CRL data integrity before processing.
  • Disable delta CRL processing if possible.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-28388 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-28388 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-28388 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-28388 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Apr. 07, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description Issue summary: When a delta CRL that contains a Delta CRL Indicator extension is processed a NULL pointer dereference might happen if the required CRL Number extension is missing. Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to a Denial of Service for an application. When CRL processing and delta CRL processing is enabled during X.509 certificate verification, the delta CRL processing does not check whether the CRL Number extension is NULL before dereferencing it. When a malformed delta CRL file is being processed, this parameter can be NULL, causing a NULL pointer dereference. Exploiting this issue requires the X509_V_FLAG_USE_DELTAS flag to be enabled in the verification context, the certificate being verified to contain a freshestCRL extension or the base CRL to have the EXFLAG_FRESHEST flag set, and an attacker to provide a malformed CRL to an application that processes it. The vulnerability is limited to Denial of Service and cannot be escalated to achieve code execution or memory disclosure. For that reason the issue was assessed as Low severity according to our Security Policy. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
    Added CWE CWE-476
    Added Reference https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/59c3b3158553ab53275bbbccca5cb305d591cf2e
    Added Reference https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/5a0b4930779cd2408880979db765db919da55139
    Added Reference https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/602542f2c0c2d5edb47128f93eac10b62aeeefb3
    Added Reference https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/a9d187dd1000130100fa7ab915f8513532cb3bb8
    Added Reference https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/d3a901e8d9f021f3e67d6cfbc12e768129862726
    Added Reference https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260407.txt
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.