OpenSSL up to 3.4.7/3.5.8/3.6.4/4.0.2 TLS Context Switching SSL_set_SSL_CTX out-of-bounds write

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in OpenSSL up to 3.4.7/3.5.8/3.6.4/4.0.2. Affected is the function SSL_set_SSL_CTX of the component TLS Context Switching. The manipulation results in out-of-bounds write. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2026-72897. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in OpenSSL up to 3.4.7/3.5.8/3.6.4/4.0.2. It has been classified as critical. Affected is the function SSL_set_SSL_CTX of the component TLS Context Switching. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a out-of-bounds write vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-787. The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Issue summary: A TLS server that calls SSL_set_SSL_CTX() to switch a connection to a different SSL_CTX part way through a handshake may access memory beyond the end of an internal array if the replacement context knows about more provider signature algorithms than the context the connection was created from. Applications which never call SSL_set_SSL_CTX() are not affected. Impact summary: A remote peer may be able to cause a small out-of-bounds read, and in some circumstances a fixed-value out-of-bounds write, on the server heap. This may lead to a Denial of Service. CWE: CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write Description: A TLS connection records how many certificate slots it has when it is created, taken from the SSL_CTX that created it: the built-in certificate types plus one slot for each provider TLS-SIGALG entry that context was aware of. That count sizes an internal array of per-slot certificate validity flags. An application may replace a connection's SSL_CTX part way through the handshake by calling SSL_set_SSL_CTX(), most commonly from a servername callback in order to serve a different virtual host. Doing so did not refresh the recorded count. A provider signature algorithm's slot index is its position in the list of whichever context resolves it, so if the replacement context is aware of more of them than the original, an algorithm offered by the peer can resolve to an index beyond the end of the array. Processing the peer's signature algorithms then reads one four byte word past the end for each such algorithm and, where the word read is zero, writes a fixed value over it. A peer offering many of them can corrupt heap metadata and abort the process. Only provider signature algorithms which occupy one of the excess slots, and which the server also has configured, have this effect. Codepoints the replacement context does not recognise are discarded without being resolved to a slot, and provider signature algorithms are usable only from TLS 1.3. The two contexts must therefore be aware of different numbers of provider signature algorithms, which requires separate library contexts, a provider loaded between the two being created, or providers which differ in what they advertise - in 4.0, for example, the default provider advertises SM2 where the FIPS provider does not. A deployment meeting the condition is also unable to negotiate the affected algorithms with legitimate clients, since the same stale count hides the corresponding certificates, so the misconfiguration is likely to be noticed. For that reason, and because the configuration is not the default, this issue has been assessed as Low severity. FIPS impact: no No FIPS modules are affected by this issue as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.

The advisory is shared for download at openssl-library.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-72897 since 08/10/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $5k-$25k (estimation calculated on 09/29/2026).

Upgrading to version 3.4.8, 3.5.9, 3.6.5 or 4.0.3 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Type

• Network Encryption Software

Name

• OpenSSL

Version

• 3.4.0
• 3.4.1
• 3.4.2
• 3.4.3
• 3.4.4
• 3.4.5
• 3.4.6
• 3.4.7
• 3.5.0
• 3.5.1
• 3.5.2
• 3.5.3
• 3.5.4
• 3.5.5
• 3.5.6
• 3.5.7
• 3.5.8
• 3.6.0
• 3.6.1
• 3.6.2
• 3.6.3
• 3.6.4
• 4.0.0
• 4.0.1
• 4.0.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://www.openssl.org/

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