Description
Issue summary: The first concurrent use of the same X.509 certificate by
several threads may cause its cached extension data to be freed while
another thread is still using it.
Impact summary: A remote, unauthenticated peer could crash a multi-threaded
TLS client, or a multi-threaded TLS server that requests client
certificates, if the first certificate chains built to the same trusted CA
certificate are built by several connections at the same time. This is a
use-after-free read, which is likely to crash the process, resulting in a
Denial of Service.
CWE: CWE-416: Use After Free
Description: OpenSSL caches the decoded values of a certificate's X.509v3
extensions inside the X509 object the first time they are needed. In
OpenSSL 4.0 this cache is built in two phases: the extension values are
computed while holding a read lock on the certificate, and the results are
then installed into the certificate under a write lock. Because a read lock
does not exclude other readers, several threads can compute the cache for
the same certificate at the same time. Each thread that subsequently
acquires the write lock installs its own results and frees the values
installed by the thread before it, even though that earlier thread has
already marked the cache as complete and may have returned pointers into it
to its caller. A caller still using those pointers then reads freed memory.
Any certificate shared between threads is exposed the first time its
extensions are decoded. In TLS the certificates at risk are the trusted CA
certificates supplied for chain verification, by whatever means, since these
are shared by every connection and their extensions are decoded and cached
the first time a chain is built to them. Certificates sent by the peer are
decoded separately for each connection and are not shared, so they are not
affected. In a TLS client verifying server certificates, or a TLS server
that requests and verifies client certificates, the use-after-free could
only occur if the first chains built to the same trusted CA are built by
several connections at the same time.
FIPS impact: no
The FIPS module is not affected as X.509 certificate handling is outside
of the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
OpenSSL 4.0 is vulnerable to this issue.
OpenSSL 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.0, 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 are not affected by this issue.
OpenSSL 4.0 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 4.0.3.
This issue was reported on 27 August 2026 by Tim Becker (Xint.io) and
independently in a public report on 31 August 2026 by aydinmercan.
The fix has been developed by Bob Beck.
-- cut (non-publishing metadata for internal use) --
Reported by: Tim Becker (Xint.io), aydinmercan
Fixed by: Bob Beck
several threads may cause its cached extension data to be freed while
another thread is still using it.
Impact summary: A remote, unauthenticated peer could crash a multi-threaded
TLS client, or a multi-threaded TLS server that requests client
certificates, if the first certificate chains built to the same trusted CA
certificate are built by several connections at the same time. This is a
use-after-free read, which is likely to crash the process, resulting in a
Denial of Service.
CWE: CWE-416: Use After Free
Description: OpenSSL caches the decoded values of a certificate's X.509v3
extensions inside the X509 object the first time they are needed. In
OpenSSL 4.0 this cache is built in two phases: the extension values are
computed while holding a read lock on the certificate, and the results are
then installed into the certificate under a write lock. Because a read lock
does not exclude other readers, several threads can compute the cache for
the same certificate at the same time. Each thread that subsequently
acquires the write lock installs its own results and frees the values
installed by the thread before it, even though that earlier thread has
already marked the cache as complete and may have returned pointers into it
to its caller. A caller still using those pointers then reads freed memory.
Any certificate shared between threads is exposed the first time its
extensions are decoded. In TLS the certificates at risk are the trusted CA
certificates supplied for chain verification, by whatever means, since these
are shared by every connection and their extensions are decoded and cached
the first time a chain is built to them. Certificates sent by the peer are
decoded separately for each connection and are not shared, so they are not
affected. In a TLS client verifying server certificates, or a TLS server
that requests and verifies client certificates, the use-after-free could
only occur if the first chains built to the same trusted CA are built by
several connections at the same time.
FIPS impact: no
The FIPS module is not affected as X.509 certificate handling is outside
of the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
OpenSSL 4.0 is vulnerable to this issue.
OpenSSL 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.0, 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 are not affected by this issue.
OpenSSL 4.0 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 4.0.3.
This issue was reported on 27 August 2026 by Tim Becker (Xint.io) and
independently in a public report on 31 August 2026 by aydinmercan.
The fix has been developed by Bob Beck.
-- cut (non-publishing metadata for internal use) --
Reported by: Tim Becker (Xint.io), aydinmercan
Fixed by: Bob Beck
Published:
2026-09-29
Score:
n/a
EPSS:
n/a
KEV:
No
Impact:
n/a
Action:
n/a
Analysis
Analysis and contextual insights are available on OpenCVE Cloud.
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenSSL | OpenSSL | unaffected |
|
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No data available yet.
Remediation
No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.
Additional remediation guidance may be available on OpenCVE Cloud.
Tracking
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Advisories
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References
History
Tue, 29 Sep 2026 15:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Issue summary: The first concurrent use of the same X.509 certificate by several threads may cause its cached extension data to be freed while another thread is still using it. Impact summary: A remote, unauthenticated peer could crash a multi-threaded TLS client, or a multi-threaded TLS server that requests client certificates, if the first certificate chains built to the same trusted CA certificate are built by several connections at the same time. This is a use-after-free read, which is likely to crash the process, resulting in a Denial of Service. CWE: CWE-416: Use After Free Description: OpenSSL caches the decoded values of a certificate's X.509v3 extensions inside the X509 object the first time they are needed. In OpenSSL 4.0 this cache is built in two phases: the extension values are computed while holding a read lock on the certificate, and the results are then installed into the certificate under a write lock. Because a read lock does not exclude other readers, several threads can compute the cache for the same certificate at the same time. Each thread that subsequently acquires the write lock installs its own results and frees the values installed by the thread before it, even though that earlier thread has already marked the cache as complete and may have returned pointers into it to its caller. A caller still using those pointers then reads freed memory. Any certificate shared between threads is exposed the first time its extensions are decoded. In TLS the certificates at risk are the trusted CA certificates supplied for chain verification, by whatever means, since these are shared by every connection and their extensions are decoded and cached the first time a chain is built to them. Certificates sent by the peer are decoded separately for each connection and are not shared, so they are not affected. In a TLS client verifying server certificates, or a TLS server that requests and verifies client certificates, the use-after-free could only occur if the first chains built to the same trusted CA are built by several connections at the same time. FIPS impact: no The FIPS module is not affected as X.509 certificate handling is outside of the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary. OpenSSL 4.0 is vulnerable to this issue. OpenSSL 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.0, 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 are not affected by this issue. OpenSSL 4.0 users should upgrade to OpenSSL 4.0.3. This issue was reported on 27 August 2026 by Tim Becker (Xint.io) and independently in a public report on 31 August 2026 by aydinmercan. The fix has been developed by Bob Beck. -- cut (non-publishing metadata for internal use) -- Reported by: Tim Becker (Xint.io), aydinmercan Fixed by: Bob Beck | |
| Title | Use-After-Free in X.509 Extension Cache Under Concurrent Use | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-416 | |
| References |
|
Subscriptions
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MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: openssl
Published:
Updated: 2026-09-29T16:42:41.306Z
Reserved: 2026-09-02T10:14:02.262Z
Link: CVE-2026-84783
Vulnrichment
No data.
NVD
Status : Received
Published: 2026-09-29T16:17:12.653
Modified: 2026-09-29T16:17:12.653
Link: CVE-2026-84783
Redhat
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses