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NULL Pointer Dereference

CVE-2021-23841

Severity Medium
Score 5.9/10

Summary

The OpenSSL public API function X509_issuer_and_serial_hash() attempts to create a unique hash value based on the issuer and serial number data contained within an X509 certificate. However it fails to correctly handle any errors that may occur while parsing the issuer field (which might occur if the issuer field is maliciously constructed). This may subsequently result in a NULL pointer deref and a crash leading to a potential denial of service attack. The function X509_issuer_and_serial_hash() is never directly called by OpenSSL itself so applications are only vulnerable if they use this function directly and they use it on certificates that may have been obtained from untrusted sources. This vulnerability affects versions through 1.0.2u, from 1.0.1-beta1 prior to 1.1.1j and from 3.0.0-alpha1 prior to 3.0.0-alpha12.

  • HIGH
  • NETWORK
  • NONE
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • HIGH

CWE-476 - NULL Pointer Dereference

A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit.

Advisory Timeline

  • Published