Review reviewHigh

CVE-2026-42765

OpenSSL OpenSSL, openssl

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...

CVSS: 7.5
EPSS: 0.51%
CISA KEV: Not listed
Published: 2026.06.10

PRIORITY ASSESSMENT

Review review

The CVSS severity warrants an early asset and exposure review.

Known exploitationNot established by KEV

Exploit probability0.51%

Technical severityCVSS 7.5

Vulnerability overview

Affected product and versions

Product: OpenSSL OpenSSL, openssl
Affected versions: >= 4.0.0 < 4.0.1, >= 3.6.0 < 3.6.3, 4.0.0
Fixed versions: 3.6.3

Recommended response sequence

Confirm exposure before applying a vendor-supported change.

Full remediation guide

1
Identify
Confirm that OpenSSL OpenSSL, openssl and an affected version are present.
2
Prioritize
Combine exploitation signals with asset exposure and business criticality.
3
Remediate
Follow the vendor advisory or supported update path and preserve rollback options.
4
Verify
Recheck the version, service health, access paths, and relevant logs.

Technical data

CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE: CWE-476