High severity · published Jun 9, 2026
CVE-2026-42764
NULL Pointer Dereference in QUIC Server Initial Packet Handling
7.5
CVSS
1.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Issue summary: Receiving a QUIC initial packet with an invalid token may
trigger a NULL pointer dereference in the OpenSSL QUIC server with
address validation disabled.
Impact summary: NULL pointer dereference typically causes abnormal termination
of the affected QUIC server process and a Denial of Service.
If the address validation is disabled in the OpenSSL QUIC server
implementation, an attacker can crash the server by sending an initial
packet with an invalid or expired token.
By default, the client address validation is enabled in the OpenSSL QUIC server
implementation, which makes the default configuration not vulnerable
to this issue. However if the SSL_LISTENER_FLAG_NO_VALIDATE is used with
the SSL_new_listener() call, the address validation is disabled making the
vulnerable code reachable.
The FIPS modules in 4.0, 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, and 3.0 are not affected by this
issue, as the affected code 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 4.0.1; 3.6.0 before 3.6.3; 3.5.0 before 3.5.7 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42764
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-42764
Patch
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/5e3ed291b8af0b03d5d3b9e56a1da69a187e9729
Patch
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/a45a0aba8095682c88ff4fc4a784892b8c6f0677
Patch
https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/bf29a458c1a231eca87e384c62b9c2553fa57a91
Vendor Advisory
https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20260609.txt
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