7.5
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2026-42765
NULL Dereference in Certificate Verification with OCSP Checking
Description

Issue summary: When a partial-chain certificate verification is enabled together with OCSP response checking for the whole chain, a NULL dereference will happen if the verified chain does not have a self-signed trusted anchor, crashing the process. Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to a Denial of Service for an application. When performing OCSP response checking for certificates in the verification chain, the code always tries to access the next certificate as the issuer. There is a check for a self-signed certificate. However with the partial chain verification enabled when the chain does not have a self-signed trusted anchor, the issuer will be NULL for the last certificate in the chain. A NULL pointer dereference then happens. This issue affects only applications which enable both OCSP verification of the certificate chain (X509_V_FLAG_OCSP_RESP_CHECK_ALL) and partial chain verification (X509_V_FLAG_PARTIAL_CHAIN) in the certificate verification. Both flags are disabled by default. For that reason, we have assigned Low severity to the issue. No FIPS modules are affected by this issue as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

INFO

Published Date :

June 9, 2026, 5:17 p.m.

Last Modified :

June 15, 2026, 6:14 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-42765 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
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Solution
Disable OCSP response checking for the whole chain or partial chain verification.
  • Disable OCSP response checking for the whole chain.
  • Disable partial chain verification.
  • Update the affected application if patches are available.
Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2026-42765 has a 1 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2026-42765.

URL Resource
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/14340b7fa1d444615486bc137014b064e64ec334 Patch
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/eb345da18ce2216b2f3ade9c2bc23e068487fa97 Patch
https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260609.txt Vendor Advisory
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-42765 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-2026-42765 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).

Aisle CVEs

Updated: 2 weeks, 2 days ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : June 15, 2026, 10:03 a.m. This repo has been linked 217 different CVEs too.

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

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-42765 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-42765 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.

  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Jun. 15, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 3.6.0 up to (excluding) 3.6.3 *cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:4.0.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    Added Reference Type OpenSSL Software Foundation: https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/14340b7fa1d444615486bc137014b064e64ec334 Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type OpenSSL Software Foundation: https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/eb345da18ce2216b2f3ade9c2bc23e068487fa97 Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type OpenSSL Software Foundation: https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260609.txt Types: Vendor Advisory
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jun. 10, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/14340b7fa1d444615486bc137014b064e64ec334
    Added Reference https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/eb345da18ce2216b2f3ade9c2bc23e068487fa97
    Removed Reference https://github.com/openssl/security/commit/14340b7fa1d444615486bc137014b064e64ec334
    Removed Reference https://github.com/openssl/security/commit/eb345da18ce2216b2f3ade9c2bc23e068487fa97
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Jun. 09, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Jun. 09, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description Issue summary: When a partial-chain certificate verification is enabled together with OCSP response checking for the whole chain, a NULL dereference will happen if the verified chain does not have a self-signed trusted anchor, crashing the process. Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to a Denial of Service for an application. When performing OCSP response checking for certificates in the verification chain, the code always tries to access the next certificate as the issuer. There is a check for a self-signed certificate. However with the partial chain verification enabled when the chain does not have a self-signed trusted anchor, the issuer will be NULL for the last certificate in the chain. A NULL pointer dereference then happens. This issue affects only applications which enable both OCSP verification of the certificate chain (X509_V_FLAG_OCSP_RESP_CHECK_ALL) and partial chain verification (X509_V_FLAG_PARTIAL_CHAIN) in the certificate verification. Both flags are disabled by default. For that reason, we have assigned Low severity to the issue. No FIPS modules are 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/security/commit/14340b7fa1d444615486bc137014b064e64ec334
    Added Reference https://github.com/openssl/security/commit/eb345da18ce2216b2f3ade9c2bc23e068487fa97
    Added Reference https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260609.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.