NULL pointer dereference in OpenSSL
CVE-2025-69421
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.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.010 (60.0th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 60th percentile — 60.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.009 · newest: 0.010 · change: +0.001
Affected products
- OpenSSL — versions 3.6.0, 3.5.0, 3.4.0
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260127.txt (vendor-advisory, Vendor Advisory)
- github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/a2dbc539f0f9cc63832709fa5aa33ad9495eb19c (Patch, patch)
- github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/3524a29271f8191b8fd8a5257eb05173982a097b (Patch, patch)
- github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/643986985cd1c21221f941129d76fe0c2785aeb3 (Patch, patch)
- github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/4bbc8d41a72c842ce4077a8a3eccd1109aaf74bd (Patch, patch)
- github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/36ecb4960872a4ce04bf6f1e1f4e78d75ec0c0c7 (Patch, patch)
- 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2025-69421?
- CVE-2025-69421 is a high-severity vulnerability in OpenSSL, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2026-01-27.
- How severe is CVE-2025-69421?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2025-69421 known to be exploited?
- 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.