CVE-2023-0401

NULL dereference during PKCS7 data verification

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: February 8, 2023 at 07:00 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:25 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsOpenSSLStormshield Management Center

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

A NULL pointer can be dereferenced when signatures are being verified on PKCS7 signed or signedAndEnveloped data. In case the hash algorithm used for the signature is known to the OpenSSL library but the implementation of the hash algorithm is not available the digest initialization will fail. There is a missing check for the return value from the initialization function which later leads to invalid usage of the digest API most likely leading to a crash. The unavailability of an algorithm can be caused by using FIPS enabled configuration of providers or more commonly by not loading the legacy provider. PKCS7 data is processed by the SMIME library calls and also by the time stamp (TS) library calls. The TLS implementation in OpenSSL does not call these functions however third party applications would be affected if they call these functions to verify signatures on untrusted data.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

3.0.0 ≤ v ≤ 3.0.73.0.0
Affected range stops below 3.0.8, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 3.3.3
Affected range stops below 3.3.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.5HIGHCISA-ADP
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-476

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