Issue summary: Processing a malformed PKCS#12 file can trigger a NULL pointer
dereference in the PKCS12_item_decrypt_d2i_ex() function.

Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to
Denial of Service for an application processing PKCS#12 files.

The PKCS12_item_decrypt_d2i_ex() function does not check whether the oct
parameter is NULL before dereferencing it. When called from
PKCS12_unpack_p7encdata() with a malformed PKCS#12 file, this parameter can
be NULL, causing a crash. The vulnerability is limited to Denial of Service
and cannot be escalated to achieve code execution or memory disclosure.

Exploiting this issue requires an attacker to provide a malformed PKCS#12 file
to an application that processes it. For that reason the issue was assessed as
Low severity according to our Security Policy.

The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue,
as the PKCS#12 implementation is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

OpenSSL 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.0, 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 are vulnerable to this issue.
Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Issue summary: Processing a malformed PKCS#12 file can trigger a NULL pointer dereference in the PKCS12_item_decrypt_d2i_ex() function. Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to Denial of Service for an application processing PKCS#12 files. The PKCS12_item_decrypt_d2i_ex() function does not check whether the oct parameter is NULL before dereferencing it. When called from PKCS12_unpack_p7encdata() with a malformed PKCS#12 file, this parameter can be NULL, causing a crash. The vulnerability is limited to Denial of Service and cannot be escalated to achieve code execution or memory disclosure. Exploiting this issue requires an attacker to provide a malformed PKCS#12 file to an application that processes it. For that reason the issue was assessed as Low severity according to our Security Policy. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the PKCS#12 implementation is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary. OpenSSL 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.0, 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 are vulnerable to this issue.
Title NULL Pointer Dereference in PKCS12_item_decrypt_d2i_ex function
Weaknesses CWE-476
References

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: openssl

Published:

Updated: 2026-01-27T16:01:26.435Z

Reserved: 2026-01-06T12:44:09.946Z

Link: CVE-2025-69421

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-01-27T16:16:34.437

Modified: 2026-01-27T16:16:34.437

Link: CVE-2025-69421

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses