CVE-2026-81689: Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort in jahlives openssl_encrypt

In jahlives openssl_encrypt versions prior to 1.4.9, the remote-pepper wrap key is derived using either unsalted HKDF-SHA256 or a bare SHA-256 hash of the password. This approach lacks salting and sufficient computational complexity, causing identical keys to be generated for all users and files. Consequently, an attacker who obtains wrapped pepper blobs can precompute a single dictionary table and conduct offline password guessing attacks across the entire fleet at hardware speed, significantly increasing the risk of password recovery.

The vulnerability allows attackers to perform fleet-wide offline password guessing attacks efficiently once they have access to wrapped pepper blobs. Because the key derivation is unsalted and computationally weak, identical keys are generated for all users and files, enabling a single precomputed dictionary attack to compromise multiple accounts. This can lead to unauthorized access and compromise of user passwords without requiring interaction or elevated privileges.

A fix is available in jahlives openssl_encrypt version 1.4.9 and later. Users should upgrade to version 1.4.9 or newer to mitigate this vulnerability. No additional mitigation steps are indicated in the provided data.