Raw vector
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/E:U/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2026-41681 is a high-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Rust-Openssl Project Rust-Openssl. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 30th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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-2026-41681 is a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-121) in the rust-openssl crate, which provides OpenSSL bindings for the Rust programming language. Affecting versions from 0.10.39 up to but not including 0.10.78, the issue stems from the EVP_DigestFinal() function always writing EVP_MD_CTX_size(ctx) bytes to the output buffer without verifying its size. Consequently, the MdCtxRef::digest_final() method can write past the end of a smaller output buffer, typically corrupting the stack. This flaw is exploitable directly from safe Rust code.
Remote attackers require no privileges, authentication, or user interaction to exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity, as indicated by its CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). Successful exploitation leads to high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations, enabling arbitrary code execution, data disclosure, or denial of service through stack corruption in affected Rust applications using vulnerable rust-openssl versions.
The vulnerability is addressed in rust-openssl version 0.10.78, where the fix prevents buffer overruns by properly handling output buffer sizes. Security practitioners should upgrade to this version or later, as detailed in the project's security advisory (GHSA-ghm9-cr32-g9qj), the fixing commit (826c3888b77add418b394770e2b2e3a72d9f92fe), pull request 2608, and the release announcement. Auditing dependencies for vulnerable ranges and testing for safe Rust compatibility is recommended.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-25586
Vulnerability Data
rust-openssl provides OpenSSL bindings for the Rust programming language. From 0.10.39 to before 0.10.78, EVP_DigestFinal() always writes EVP_MD_CTX_size(ctx) to the out buffer. If out is smaller than that, MdCtxRef::digest_final() writes past its end, usually corrupting the stack. This is reachable…
more
from safe Rust. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.10.78.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and analysis can discover stack-buffer overflows before deployment.
Input validation directly stops untrusted data from exceeding stack buffer bounds.
Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability to execute injected code after a stack overflow.
Secure-engineering principles include bounds-checked coding and safe buffer handling that avoid introducing the flaw.
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.
Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.
Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.
Secure-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.
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.
Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.
Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.
Security testing (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248594 OL 8 must implement address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution. prevents CWE-121
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
- V-271452 OL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services. prevents CWE-121