Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessCraft file with escape sequences in metadata
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DeliveryDeliver malicious file to victim
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ExploitVictim runs 'info' command
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ExecutionTerminal interprets control characters
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PersistForged verification output displayed
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ImpactVictim trusts tampered file
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A09:2025 - Security Logging & Alerting Failures
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Log output neutralization
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires the victim to run the 'info' command of openssl_encrypt (versions before 1.4.9) against an attacker-crafted file whose metadata contains terminal control/escape sequences, and requires a terminal emulator that interprets those sequences. Exploitation is limited by that necessary user interaction (the operator must choose to inspect the malicious file) and by terminal behavior - emulators that do not honor certain escape codes reduce impact. There is no privilege requirement and no authentication, but success depends on social engineering to get the victim to view the file. |
| Impact | The published CVSS 4.0 score of 9.3 (VC:H/VI:H/VA:H, PR:N, UI:N) substantially overstates real-world risk for this bug class. Terminal-injection/log-injection (CWE-117) is fundamentally an integrity/spoofing issue, not full compromise of confidentiality and availability, and exploitation realistically requires the victim to run the 'info' command against an attacker-supplied file - i.e., user interaction that the scored vector omits (UI:N). There is no KEV listing and no public exploit identified, so this is not an urgent mass-exploitation event; the credible threat is targeted social-engineering where a forged 'verified' banner tricks an operator into trusting a malicious file. The honest read is a genuine but moderate-severity spoofing flaw whose scored 9.3 conflicts with the CWE and the interaction requirement - verify the vendor scoring rather than treating it as a critical RCE-equivalent. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker crafts a file whose metadata field contains ANSI escape sequences and delivers it to a victim (e.g., as a supposedly encrypted deliverable). When the victim inspects it with 'openssl_encrypt info malicious.file', the escape sequences reposition the cursor and overwrite the output to display a forged 'signature valid / integrity verified' message, causing the victim to trust a tampered file. No public exploit code is identified at time of analysis. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Aug 27, 2026
Terminal escape-sequence injection in jahlives openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 lets an attacker embed control characters in a file's metadata that are emitted verbatim when a victim runs the tool's 'info' command, letting the attacker repaint the terminal and forge the integrity/verification output the tool displays. The practical impact is spoofing: a tampered or malicious file can be made to appear verified or trustworthy to the operator. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, and the flaw requires the victim to run 'info' on attacker-supplied input.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade to openssl_encrypt 1.4.9 or later, which sanitizes terminal control characters in metadata output, per GHSA-539p-fxf4-7fv8. If immediate upgrade is not possible, avoid running the 'info' command on untrusted or externally sourced files, and pipe output through a sanitizer (e.g., 'cat -v' or 'less' without raw-control interpretation, or strip escape sequences with a filter) before viewing - the trade-off is reduced formatting/readability of legitimate output. Treat any 'verified' status shown for a file received from an untrusted source as unconfirmed until validated on a patched build. Refer to the vendor advisory (https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-539p-fxf4-7fv8) and VulnCheck advisory (https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-terminal-injection-via-info-command) for authoritative fix details.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in pypi
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
openssl_encrypt is a Python-based file encryption/verification utility (CPE cpe:2.3:a:jahlives:openssl_encrypt) that wraps OpenSSL operations and prints file metadata via an 'info' subcommand. The root cause is CWE-117 (Improper Output Neutralization) - untrusted metadata is written to the terminal without stripping ANSI/VT100 control and escape sequences. Because most terminal emulators interpret these sequences (cursor movement, line clearing, color, and in some emulators title-setting or clipboard operations), attacker-controlled bytes in the file are treated as terminal commands rather than inert text, allowing the displayed verification output to be overwritten or fabricated.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
File is delivered remotely (AV:N) but the victim must run 'info' on it (UI:R); impact is output forgery/spoofing, so integrity is high while confidentiality and availability are not affected.
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 fail to sanitize terminal control characters in file metadata printed by the info command. Attackers can craft malicious files containing escape sequences to repaint terminal output and forge verification information displayed to users.
Executive ViewAI
Jahlives openssl_encrypt before version 1.4.9 contains a terminal escape-sequence injection vulnerability that allows attackers to forge cryptographic file verification output, enabling operators to unknowingly accept malicious or tampered files. This directly circumvents the integrity verification controls your organization depends on for secure file operations.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Until patching is available: restrict 'info' command execution to internal files only, implement offline manual verification using independent cryptographic tools for external file sources, disable terminal rendering if configurable, isolate file operations to controlled network segments, and maintain active vendor advisory monitoring for patch availability notifications.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
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