VulnerabilityPublished 29 Sep 2026Updated 10 Nov 2026

CVE-2026-54872: OpenSSL · Timing Side Channel

Affects OpenSSLSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.7 Low · fixed in 4.0.3 : update OpenSSL when convenient.

Data as of 10 Nov 2026, 13:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.7Low

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

CVSS scores by source
CISA-ADP	CVSS 3.1	3.7

Exploitation: No evidence of active exploitation and no public proof of concept
Automatable: Attackers cannot reliably automate steps 1–4 of the kill chain
Technical impact: Limited control over the software or limited information exposure

CISA SSVC assessment, 2026-09-29.

Patch

Available – fixed in 4.0.3, 3.6.5, 3.5.9 +4

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 29 Sep 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 10 Nov 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
OpenSSLOpenSSL	Affected >=4.0.0 <4.0.3	Fixed in 4.0.3
OpenSSLOpenSSL	Affected >=3.6.0 <3.6.5	Fixed in 3.6.5
OpenSSLOpenSSL	Affected >=3.5.0 <3.5.9	Fixed in 3.5.9
OpenSSLOpenSSL	Affected >=3.4.0 <3.4.8	Fixed in 3.4.8
OpenSSLOpenSSL	Affected >=3.0.0 <3.0.23	Fixed in 3.0.23
OpenSSLOpenSSL	Affected >=1.1.1 <1.1.1zj	Fixed in 1.1.1zj

AI-suggested

Fixed versions of OpenSSL are available and should be applied to remediate this vulnerability. The fixed versions include 4.0.3, 3.6.5, 3.5.9, 3.4.8, 3.0.23, 1.1.1zj, and 1.0.2zs. Users should upgrade to these versions or later to eliminate the timing leak. No additional mitigation steps are required beyond applying the official patches.

Description

CVE-2026-54872 is a timing side-channel vulnerability in OpenSSL's generic elliptic-curve scalar multiplication implementation used for ECDSA and SM2 signature operations on certain curves without dedicated constant-time code. The vulnerability leaks information about the secret nonce through timing discrepancies, which could potentially allow an attacker to recover the private key after collecting many signing time measurements. The issue mainly affects curves like brainpoolP384r1 and other generic prime curves but does not affect the NIST curves P-256, P-384, and P-521, which have dedicated constant-time implementations. The vulnerability has a low CVSS score and no known exploits in the wild. Fixed versions are available across affected OpenSSL releases.

Impact

An attacker capable of measuring the time taken for signature operations on vulnerable curves may gain partial information about the secret nonce used in ECDSA and SM2 signatures. Over many signatures, this information leakage could lead to private key recovery through advanced cryptanalysis techniques. The impact is limited by the difficulty of measurement and the small size of the timing leak. The vulnerability does not affect the widely used NIST curves with constant-time implementations and does not impact FIPS-validated modules.

Summary

This vulnerability arises from the generic elliptic-curve scalar multiplication used in OpenSSL for ECDSA and SM2 signature operations on curves lacking dedicated constant-time implementations. The secret scalar (nonce) is padded using non-constant-time BIGNUM operations, causing observable timing discrepancies dependent on the secret nonce value. Although the timing leak is very small and requires a large number of measurements to exploit, it can enable an attacker to perform a lattice or Hidden Number Problem attack to recover the private key. The vulnerability affects OpenSSL versions prior to fixed releases in multiple branches and does not impact the FIPS modules or NIST curves with dedicated constant-time implementations.

CWE-208Observable Timing Discrepancy (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
Logging (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.4 (opens in a new tab)
V14.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
V7.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Cross-Domain Search Timing (opens in a new tab)
Application Fingerprinting (opens in a new tab)
System Footprinting (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 10 Nov 2026, 13:05 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-208

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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