Amazon Linux 2023 : openssl, openssl-devel, openssl-fips-provider-latest (ALAS2023-2026-2088)

high Nessus Plugin ID 342040

Synopsis

The remote Amazon Linux 2023 host is missing a security update.

Description

It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2023-2026-2088 advisory.

Issue summary: When an OpenSSL QUIC server (Listener SSL object) processesvalid QUIC Initial packets for unknown destination connection IDs, itcan allocate and queue new incoming channels without enforcing any limit.

Impact summary: A remote peer that can make many Initial packets reach theserver listener faster than the application accepts connections, can cause thememory allocated to store the per-channel state to grow without any limits,potentially making the QUIC listener unavailable and causing Denial of Service.

CWE: CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

Description: The function that handles inbound QUIC packets usesConnection-Id from the packet header to find an existing connection(QUIC channel). If no existing connection is found and the packettype is INITIAL, the function treats the packet as a new connection. Itallocates a new channel object and inserts it into a queue where itwaits to be accepted by the local application with SSL_accept(3ossl).The memory occupied by these initial channel objects may growwithout bounds if the application is not able to call SSL_accept()frequently enough to serve these inbound connection requests.

The issue is present since OpenSSL 3.5 when the QUIC server implementationwas added.

The fix introduces a limit for pending connections. The default limit is setto 256 pending connections (waiting to be accepted by the local application).Applications may change the default by calling SSL_set_value_uint(3ossl).

FIPS impact: noThe FIPS module is not affected as the QUIC implementation is outside ofthe OpenSSL FIPS module boundary. (CVE-2026-14456)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Run 'dnf update openssl --releasever 2023.12.20260831' or or 'dnf update --advisory ALAS2023-2026-2088 --releasever 2023.12.20260831' to update your system.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 342040

File Name: al2023_ALAS2023-2026-2088.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Amazon Linux Local Security Checks

Published: 8/31/2026

Updated: 8/31/2026

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5

Percentile: 93.48

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 5.8

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-14456

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 6.5

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

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:amazon:linux:2023, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-debugsource, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-devel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-fips-provider-latest-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-fips-provider-latest, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-libs-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-libs, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-perl, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-snapsafe-libs-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl-snapsafe-libs, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:openssl

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/AmazonLinux/release, Host/AmazonLinux/rpm-list

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 8/31/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/5/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-14456

IAVA: 2026-A-0878

Detections

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