What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-81684: openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 Information Disclosure via Command Line

• Severity: medium (CVSS 6.2 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-08-27 · updated 2026-09-03
• Weakness: CWE-214

Description

In openssl_encrypt (pip package openssl-encrypt) versions <= 1.4.8, the desktop GUI passes the steganography password to the CLI child process on the command line via the --stego-password argument (on both encrypt and decrypt paths) instead of via an environment variable as done for the main password. Any local user can read the steganography password from /proc/<pid>/cmdline for the lifetime of the subprocess. Fixed in 1.4.9.

Affected products

• jahlives openssl_encrypt: before 1.4.9 — fixed in 1.4.9

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: jahlives openssl_encrypt 1.4.9. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-rx2c-m92f-qv6p
• https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-information-disclosure-via-command-line

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