Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-63073

critical Nessus Plugin ID 339521

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- Issue summary: OpenSSL CMP response validation passed an unexpected response sender distinguished name directly as the format string to `ERR_raise_data()`. Impact summary: A malicious or intercepted CMP endpoint can crash a CMP client that enforces an expected sender or uses a pinned server certificate whose subject becomes the default expected sender. CWE: CWE-134 (Use of Externally-Controlled Format String) Description: When validating a received CMP message, ossl_cmp_msg_check_update() converts the peer- supplied sender distinguished name with X509_NAME_oneline() and passes it directly as the format argument to ERR_raise_data(). Percent characters survive the conversion, so a sender DN such as CN=%s%n reaches BIO_vsnprintf() as an attacker-controlled format string with no matching variadic arguments. This path is only reached when the caller configures an expected sender or pins a server certificate, which is the normal configuration for a CMP client validating server responses. Since the attacker controls the format string but none of the variadic arguments, such specifiers as %s and %n dereference or write through unrelated stack contents and crash the client. The reliable consequence is a denial of service, when the response comes from a malicious or intercepted CMP endpoint. There is no controlled memory write, arbitrary-address read, or reliable path to remote code execution. FIPS impact: no No FIPS modules are affected by this issue, as the CMP protocol implementation is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
(CVE-2026-63073)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 339521

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_63073.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/25/2026

Updated: 8/26/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.9

Percentile: 58.19

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 6.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-63073

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.8

Temporal Score: 9

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:14.0, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:openssl, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:edk2-aarch64, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:edk2-ovmf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:edk2-tools-doc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:edk2-tools, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:edk2, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssl-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssl-libs, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssl-perl, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssl

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/25/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-63073

Detections

Analytics