High severity · published Aug 25, 2026
CVE-2026-14457
RPK Server Signature Algorithm Selection Can Dereference a Missing Certificate
7.5
CVSS
1.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Issue summary: In a server or client configuration with RFC7250 Raw Public Keys (RPKs)
enabled, and only the private key (with no associated certificate) configured locally,
a NULL pointer dereference may occur when the remote peer solicits raw public keys and
also sends the typically omitted "signature_algorithms_cert" TLS extension.
Impact summary: The impact is limited to a possible Denial of Service as a result of
an application abort, no data disclosure or remote command execution are possible.
CWE: CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
Description: While a passing comment in sample code in the documentation suggests
that key-only RPK configurations are supported, the best-practice RPK configuration
is to always configure a corresponding certificate (possibly self-signed or
signed by any convenient CA).
When the private key is configured along with a matching certificate, the
"signature_algorithms_cert" extension is handled reliably even without the
fix, and peer clients or servers that don't support raw public keys may be
able to complete a TLS connection by pinning or verifying the corresponding
certificate or its public key.
Deployments that prefer to configure just a private key with no certificate
need to upgrade to an updated release as noted below.
FIPS impact: no
No FIPS modules are affected by this issue, as the SSL protocol implementation
is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)1.2% · higher than 67% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
OP
OpenSSL · OpenSSL
4.0.0 before 4.0.2; 3.6.0 before 3.6.4; 3.5.0 before 3.5.8; 3.4.0 before 3.4.7 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-14457
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-14457
Patch
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/1e8c398db67404babd3e5af999bb6bd86f720c76
Patch
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/581aaa0f0a35d214740f0fe1f5283ec41f1212e1
Patch
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/d0af20478688a6aa2f59d61caa3f82136b181d7f
Patch
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/dad836b071da6579510c968615848ba03cac593b
Vendor Advisory
https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260825.txt
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