CVE-2026-63073
Issue summary: OpenSSL CMP response validation passed an unexpected response
sender distinguished name directly as the format string to ERR_raise_data().
Impact summary: A malicious or intercepted CMP endpoint can crash a CMP client
that enforces an expected sender or uses a pinned server certificate whose
subject becomes the default expected sender.
CWE: CWE-134 (Use of Externally-Controlled Format String)
Description: When validating a received CMP message, ossl_cmp_msg_check_update()
converts the peer-supplied sender distinguished name with X509_NAME_oneline()
and passes it directly as the format argument to ERR_raise_data(). Percent
characters survive the conversion, so a sender DN such as "CN=%s%n" reaches
BIO_vsnprintf() as an attacker-controlled format string with no matching variadic
arguments. This path is only reached when the caller configures an expected
sender or pins a server certificate, which is the normal configuration for a
CMP client validating server responses.
Since the attacker controls the format string but none of the variadic
arguments, such specifiers as %s and %n dereference or write through unrelated
stack contents and crash the client. The reliable consequence is a denial of
service, when the response comes from a malicious or intercepted CMP endpoint.
There is no controlled memory write, arbitrary-address read, or reliable path
to remote code execution.
FIPS impact: no
No FIPS modules are affected by this issue, as the CMP protocol
implementation is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
CSIRTS triage
- What
- Multiple denial of service vulnerabilities in OpenSSL QUIC and DTLS handling allow remote attackers to exhaust resources or crash the service through malformed packets.
- Who is affected
- Ubuntu 26.04 LTS systems and applications using affected OpenSSL versions with QUIC or DTLS functionality enabled.
- Urgency
- Moderate; allows denial of service but not code execution; no active exploitation reported.
- Action
- Apply the USN-8678-1 OpenSSL security update to affected Ubuntu systems.
AI-assisted analysis generated from the source advisory — verify against the original.
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Advisory coverage (3)
- unknownUSN-8678-1: OpenSSL vulnerabilitiesubuntu · 2026-08-25
- unknownCVE-2026-63073: Issue summary: OpenSSL CMP response validation passed an unexpected response sender distinguis…nvd · 2026-08-25
- unknownDSA-6465-1 openssl - security updatedebian · 2026-08-25
External references
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