CVE-2026-42765

NULL Dereference in Certificate Verification with OCSP Checking

Published Jun 9, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.5 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Issue summary: When a partial-chain certificate verification is enabled
together with OCSP response checking for the whole chain, a NULL dereference
will happen if the verified chain does not have a self-signed trusted anchor,
crashing the process.

Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to a
Denial of Service for an application.

When performing OCSP response checking for certificates in the verification
chain, the code always tries to access the next certificate as the issuer.
There is a check for a self-signed certificate. However with the partial
chain verification enabled when the chain does not have a self-signed trusted
anchor, the issuer will be NULL for the last certificate in the chain. A NULL
pointer dereference then happens.

This issue affects only applications which enable both OCSP verification
of the certificate chain (X509_V_FLAG_OCSP_RESP_CHECK_ALL) and partial
chain verification (X509_V_FLAG_PARTIAL_CHAIN) in the certificate
verification. Both flags are disabled by default. For that reason, we have
assigned Low severity to the issue.

No FIPS modules are affected by this issue as the affected code is outside
the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:4.0.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Openssl
Openssl openssl
Vendors & Products Openssl
Openssl openssl
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Issue summary: When a partial-chain certificate verification is enabled together with OCSP response checking for the whole chain, a NULL dereference will happen if the verified chain does not have a self-signed trusted anchor, crashing the process. Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to a Denial of Service for an application. When performing OCSP response checking for certificates in the verification chain, the code always tries to access the next certificate as the issuer. There is a check for a self-signed certificate. However with the partial chain verification enabled when the chain does not have a self-signed trusted anchor, the issuer will be NULL for the last certificate in the chain. A NULL pointer dereference then happens. This issue affects only applications which enable both OCSP verification of the certificate chain (X509_V_FLAG_OCSP_RESP_CHECK_ALL) and partial chain verification (X509_V_FLAG_PARTIAL_CHAIN) in the certificate verification. Both flags are disabled by default. For that reason, we have assigned Low severity to the issue. No FIPS modules are affected by this issue as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
Title NULL Dereference in Certificate Verification with OCSP Checking
Weaknesses CWE-476
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
openssl
Published
Updated
Jun 10, 2026, 7:48 AM
Reserved
Apr 29, 2026, 9:22 AM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Jun 9, 2026, 5:17 PM
Modified
Jul 23, 2026, 8:10 AM