CVE-2026-45446

EUVD-2026-35490
Issue summary: The implementations of AES-SIV (RFC 5297) and AES-GCM-SIV
(RFC 8452) mishandle the authentication of AAD (Additional Authenticated
Data) with an empty ciphertext allowing a forgery of such messages.

Impact summary: An attacker can forge empty messages with arbitrary AAD
to the victim's application using these ciphers.

AES-SIV (RFC 5297) and AES-GCM-SIV (RFC 8452) are nonce-misuse-resistant AEAD
modes: they accept a key, nonce, optional AAD (bytes that are authenticated
but not encrypted), and plaintext, and produces ciphertext plus a 16-byte
tag. On decrypt, `EVP_DecryptFinal_ex()` is documented to return success only
if the tag is verified succesfully.

In OpenSSL's provider implementation of these ciphers, the expected tag is
computed only when decryption function is invoked with non-empty data.
If the caller supplies AAD and then calls `EVP_DecryptFinal_ex()` without
invocation of the ciphertext update, which can happen when the received
ciphertext length is zero, the tag is never recalculated and still holds its
all-zeros value.

When AES-GCM-SIV is used, an attacker who sends arbitrary AAD, empty
ciphertext, and all-zeros tag passes authentication under any key they do not
know, single-shot. When AES-SIV is used, for mounting the attack it's
necessary for the application to reuse the decryption context without
resetting the key.

AES-SIV is implemented since OpenSSL 3.0. AES-GCM-SIV is implemented since
OpenSSL 3.2.

No protocols implemented in OpenSSL itself (TLS/CMS/PKCS7/HPKE/QUIC) support
either AES-GCM-SIV or AES-SIV. To mount an attack, the applications must
implement their own protocol and use the EVP interface. Also they must skip the
ciphertext update when a message with an empty ciphertext arrives.

The FIPS modules in 4.0, 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, and 3.0 are not affected by this
issue, as these algorithms are not FIPS approved and the affected code is
outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
ProviderTypeBase ScoreAtk. VectorAtk. ComplexityPriv. RequiredVector
opensslCNA
4.8 MEDIUM
NETWORK
HIGH
NONE
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Base Score
CVSS 3.x
EPSS Score
Percentile: Unknown
Early Detection
Affected products identified ahead of NVD analysis through intelligence sources.
VendorProductVersionSource
opensslopenssl
4.0.0 ≤
𝑥
< 4.0.1
CNA
opensslopenssl
3.6.0 ≤
𝑥
< 3.6.3
CNA
opensslopenssl
3.5.0 ≤
𝑥
< 3.5.7
CNA
opensslopenssl
3.4.0 ≤
𝑥
< 3.4.6
CNA
opensslopenssl
3.0.0 ≤
𝑥
< 3.0.21
CNA
Debian logo
Debian Releases
Debian Product
Codename
openssl
bookworm
vulnerable
bookworm (security)
3.0.20-1~deb12u2
fixed
bullseye
vulnerable
bullseye (security)
vulnerable
forky
vulnerable
sid
vulnerable
trixie
vulnerable
trixie (security)
3.5.6-1~deb13u2
fixed
Ubuntu logo
Ubuntu Releases
Ubuntu Product
Codename
openssl
bionic
not-affected
focal
not-affected
jammy
Fixed 3.0.2-0ubuntu1.25
released
noble
Fixed 3.0.13-0ubuntu3.11
released
questing
Fixed 3.5.3-1ubuntu3.4
released
resolute
Fixed 3.5.5-1ubuntu3.2
released
trusty
not-affected
xenial
not-affected
openssl-fips
jammy
dne
noble
dne
questing
dne
resolute
dne
openssl1.0
bionic
not-affected
jammy
dne
noble
dne
questing
dne
resolute
dne
nodejs
bionic
not-affected
focal
not-affected
jammy
needed
noble
not-affected
questing
not-affected
resolute
not-affected
trusty
not-affected
edk2
bionic
not-affected
focal
not-affected
jammy
not-affected
noble
needs-triage
questing
needs-triage
resolute
needs-triage