openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 fail to escape attacker-controlled key_id values printed to stderr during decrypt auto-detection. Attackers can craft encrypted files with malicious key_id containing escape sequences to repaint terminal output and forge authenticity verification blocks.
openssl-encrypt (pip package, versions <= 1.4.8) fails to sanitize filenames read from untrusted drive data (outside the AES-GCM authenticated manifest) before printing them in the verify-usb command's output. An attacker can plant filenames containing terminal cursor-movement and erase-line control bytes that repaint a forged PASSED verdict on screen, masking actual tamper detection. Fixed in 1.4.9 by routing drive-derived names through sanitize_for_display().
openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 fails to validate the total field from QR JSON payloads before materializing ranges. Attackers can supply crafted QR images with extremely large total values to trigger unbounded memory allocation and cause denial of service through out-of-memory conditions.
openssl_encrypt (pip: openssl-encrypt) versions 1.4.8 and earlier fail to validate the 36-bit STREAMINFO total_samples field of FLAC files before using it to size an allocation (np.random.randint(size=(total_samples, channels))). A ~50-byte crafted FLAC file declaring ~100 million samples causes a multi-gigabyte memory allocation, leading to out-of-memory denial of service during 'decrypt --stego-extract'. The issue is fixed in 1.4.9; both the 1.4.x and 1.5.x lines are affected.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 fail to validate server URLs in login and register_with_email functions, accepting unencrypted http:// URLs and unconfigured hosts. Attackers on the network path can intercept cleartext credentials including client_id, passwords, and JWTs to achieve full keyserver account takeover.
openssl-encrypt (pip package) before 1.4.9 contains a symlink-following flaw in its verify-usb v2 added-file allowlist scan. The scan enumerated the drive with rglob(), which in CPython does not descend into symlinked directories and treats the symlink as an ordinary directory, while O_NOFOLLOW on the hash side binds only the final path component. An evil-maid attacker with physical access to the removable drive could replace a tool-tree directory with a symlink to a copy containing byte-identical files plus a planted __pycache__/*.pyc file (which CPython loads in preference to recompiling the clean .py). The planted file is never enumerated, added_files stays 0, and verify-usb reports PASSED, resulting in code execution when the victim runs the portable install. Fixed in 1.4.9 (affects both 1.4.x and 1.5.x lines).
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 derive the remote-pepper wrap key using unsalted HKDF-SHA256 or bare SHA-256 of the password, allowing identical keys across all users and files. Attackers with access to wrapped pepper blobs can precompute a single dictionary table and perform fleet-wide offline password guessing at hardware speed to recover user passwords.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 store an unkeyed SHA-256 hash of the plaintext in the cleartext file header metadata. Attackers can read this hash without the password to confirm guessed plaintexts offline or fingerprint identical plaintexts across separately-encrypted files.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 fail to enforce a time ceiling on key derivation function iteration counts specified in file metadata. Attackers can craft files with extremely high KDF iteration counts to consume CPU resources for unbounded periods before password verification occurs.
openssl_encrypt 1.4.x before 1.4.9 contains an optional D-Bus crypto service whose org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Set method performs neither a polkit authorization check nor value validation. Any local user on the system bus can call Set without authorization and set MaxConcurrentOperations (to 0/negative, causing the concurrency gate to refuse all subsequent operations, or to a huge value removing the limit) or the unbounded DefaultTimeout, resulting in a persistent denial of service of the root daemon. The D-Bus service exists only on the 1.4.x line and was removed in 1.5.x.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 fail to sanitize recovery-slot metadata in the desktop GUI, allowing attackers to inject control characters and line separators into the irreversible-removal confirmation dialog. Attackers can craft encrypted files with malicious slot identifiers containing bidi overrides or line-separator characters to forge warning text and deceive users during file removal operations.
In openssl_encrypt (pip package openssl-encrypt) versions <= 1.4.8, the desktop GUI passes the steganography password to the CLI child process on the command line via the --stego-password argument (on both encrypt and decrypt paths) instead of via an environment variable as done for the main password. Any local user can read the steganography password from /proc/<pid>/cmdline for the lifetime of the subprocess. Fixed in 1.4.9.
openssl_encrypt (pip package openssl-encrypt) versions 1.4.8 and earlier store an mTLS client private key in cleartext within a world-readable (0644) SharedPreferences file via the desktop GUI's Settings screen 'combined certificate and private key' PEM field. A local attacker with file system access can read the exposed private key. Version 1.4.9 writes the PEM to a dedicated 0600 file, keeps only its path in SharedPreferences, and migrates/scrubs existing cleartext values.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 contain an insecure file permissions vulnerability in the desktop GUI that writes decrypted plaintext with world-readable default permissions. Attackers can read decrypted output files created by the GUI as unprivileged local users on multi-user systems.
openssl_encrypt (pip package openssl-encrypt) versions <= 1.4.8 advertise a portable USB workspace as an 'Encrypted USB Workspace' with AES-256-GCM encryption and write a marker declaring the workspace encrypted, but the workspace directory is actually stored in cleartext and the derived encryption key is never applied to it. A user who trusts the branding and places files in the workspace leaves them unencrypted on the removable media, so an attacker with physical access to the media can read the sensitive files. Fixed in 1.4.9, which seals the workspace into an authenticated AES-256-GCM vault.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.9 fail to authenticate recovery-slot presence in envelope-format encrypted files, allowing attackers to remove recovery slots without re-encrypting the payload. Attackers can modify the file header to delete recovery-slot fields and bypass authentication, silently removing recovery paths the owner deliberately added.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability in pqc.py where AES-GCM decryption failures trigger fallback to unauthenticated AES-CTR mode. Attackers can modify ciphertext in transit to bypass integrity verification and perform bit-flipping attacks without detection.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 contain a critical vulnerability in pqc.py where KEM decapsulation failures silently fall back to simulation mode, generating a deterministic shared secret from only 16 bytes of the private key and publicly available encapsulated key data. Attackers who obtain 16 bytes of the private key can compute the shared secret and decrypt all ciphertext, as the fallback triggers on any KEM failure without raising an error.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 contain a sandbox escape vulnerability in IsolatedPluginExecutor that exposes Python type objects in restricted exec() builtins. Attackers can traverse the Python class hierarchy via __class__.__mro__.__subclasses__() to access system functions and execute arbitrary OS commands.
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 contain a sandbox escape vulnerability in the DangerousPatternVisitor AST analyzer that fails to detect dunder attribute traversal techniques. Attackers can use __class__, __bases__, __subclasses__(), and __globals__ chains to access restricted functions and execute arbitrary system commands from plugin code.