CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Lifecycle Timeline
4Description
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.
Analysis
NULL pointer dereference in OpenSSL 1.0.2 through 3.6.x delta CRL processing enables remote denial-of-service attacks against applications performing X.509 certificate verification. Exploitation requires X509_V_FLAG_USE_DELTAS flag enabled, certificates with freshestCRL extension or base CRL with EXFLAG_FRESHEST flag, and attacker-supplied malformed delta CRL missing required CRL Number extension. …
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Remediation
Within 24 hours: Inventory all production systems running OpenSSL 1.0.2-3.6.x and identify those with X509_V_FLAG_USE_DELTAS enabled or processing freshestCRL extensions. Within 7 days: Apply vendor-released patches to all affected OpenSSL installations; consult vendor advisory for exact patched versions (typically 1.0.2-EOL, 3.0.x, 3.1.x, or 3.2.x patch releases). …
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EUVD-2026-19962