Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-28386

Memory Safety in Openssl 3.6.0 – 3.6.2

Published
07 April 2026
Modified
24 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0031 24th percentile
Risk Priority 57 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-28386 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Openssl Openssl. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 24th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-28386 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability affecting the OpenSSL FIPS module version 3.6, specifically in applications performing AES-CFB128 encryption or decryption on x86-64 systems equipped with AVX-512 and VAES instruction set support. The issue arises when processing partial cipher blocks, where a previous operation left an incomplete block and the current input provides fewer bytes than needed to complete it, leading to an over-read of up to 15 bytes. Other architectures or systems lacking VAES support follow unaffected code paths. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) and is classified under CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read).

A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this flaw by supplying crafted input that positions the input buffer at a memory page boundary, with the subsequent page unmapped. This triggers the out-of-bounds read, potentially causing a crash and denial-of-service (DoS) condition for the affected application. There is no information disclosure, as the over-read bytes are not propagated to output. Exploitation requires specific conditions, including partial block processing and precise memory alignment, and CFB mode is not used in common protocols like TLS/DTLS, which favor CBC, GCM, CCM, or ChaCha20-Poly1305.

OpenSSL's security advisory (https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260407.txt) details the issue and assesses it as low severity per their policy due to the narrow attack surface. Mitigation is available via a patch in commit 61f428a2fc6671ede184a19f71e6e495f0689621 (https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/61f428a2fc6671ede184a19f71e6e495f0689621), which security practitioners should apply to vulnerable OpenSSL FIPS 3.6 deployments.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Issue summary: Applications using AES-CFB128 encryption or decryption on systems with AVX-512 and VAES support can trigger an out-of-bounds read of up to 15 bytes when processing partial cipher blocks. Impact summary: This out-of-bounds read may trigger a crash which…

more

leads to Denial of Service for an application if the input buffer ends at a memory page boundary and the following page is unmapped. There is no information disclosure as the over-read bytes are not written to output. The vulnerable code path is only reached when processing partial blocks (when a previous call left an incomplete block and the current call provides fewer bytes than needed to complete it). Additionally, the input buffer must be positioned at a page boundary with the following page unmapped. CFB mode is not used in TLS/DTLS protocols, which use CBC, GCM, CCM, or ChaCha20-Poly1305 instead. For these reasons the issue was assessed as Low severity according to our Security Policy. Only x86-64 systems with AVX-512 and VAES instruction support are affected. Other architectures and systems without VAES support use different code paths that are not affected. OpenSSL FIPS module in 3.6 version is affected by this issue.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-9076Same product: Openssl Openssl
CVE-2026-42771Same product: Openssl Openssl
CVE-2026-34180Same product: Openssl Openssl
CVE-2023-1255Same product: Openssl Openssl
CVE-2026-7383Same product: Openssl Openssl
CVE-2025-15467Same product: Openssl Openssl
CVE-2025-69419Same product: Openssl Openssl
CVE-2023-6129Same product: Openssl Openssl
CVE-2025-68160Same product: Openssl Openssl
CVE-2026-31789Same product: Openssl Openssl

Affected Assets

openssl
openssl
3.6.0 — 3.6.2

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.

Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References