openssl-src vulnerable to Use-after-free following `BIO_new_NDEF`GHSA-r7jw-wp68-3xch
HIGHGHSA-r7jw-wp68-3xch is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Use After Free vulnerability in openssl-src. A fix is available for openssl-src — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-r7jw-wp68-3xch.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
openssl-src🦀openssl-srcReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
The public API function BIO_new_NDEF is a helper function used for streaming ASN.1 data via a BIO. It is primarily used internally to OpenSSL to support the SMIME, CMS and PKCS7 streaming capabilities, but may also be called directly by end user applications.
The function receives a BIO from the caller, prepends a new BIO_f_asn1 filter BIO onto the front of it to form a BIO chain, and then returns the new head of the BIO chain to the caller. Under certain conditions, for example if a CMS recipient public key is invalid, the new filter BIO is freed and the function returns a NULL result indicating a failure. However, in this case, the BIO chain is not properly cleaned up and the BIO passed by the caller still retains internal pointers to the previously freed filter BIO. If the caller then goes on to call BIO_pop() on the BIO then a use-after-free will occur. This will most likely result in a crash.
This scenario occurs directly in the internal function B64_write_ASN1() which may cause BIO_new_NDEF() to be called and will subsequently call BIO_pop() on the BIO. This internal function is in turn called by the public API functions PEM_write_bio_ASN1_stream, PEM_write_bio_CMS_stream, PEM_write_bio_PKCS7_stream, SMIME_write_ASN1, SMIME_write_CMS and SMIME_write_PKCS7.
Other public API functions that may be impacted by this include i2d_ASN1_bio_stream, BIO_new_CMS, BIO_new_PKCS7, i2d_CMS_bio_stream and i2d_PKCS7_bio_stream.
The OpenSSL cms and smime command line applications are similarly affected.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | openssl-src | all versions | 111.25.0cargo update -p openssl-src --precise 111.25.0 |
| 🦀crates.io | openssl-src | ≥ 300.0.0&&< 300.0.12 | 300.0.12cargo update -p openssl-src --precise 300.0.12 |
Affected Products
opensslopensslstormshield management centerstormshieldDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for openssl-src, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update openssl-src to 111.25.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-r7jw-wp68-3xch is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Constrain what reaches the vulnerable code: limit the size and shape of untrusted input, isolate the affected component in a sandboxed or least-privileged process, and enable the platform's memory-safety mitigations (ASLR, stack protector, hardened allocator) so an out-of-bounds access is more likely to fail closed than to be exploitable.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This flaw was found in the OpenSSL library within the BIO_new_NDEF function, which is used for ASN.1 data streaming. The flaw is a use-after-free issue that happens when an error occurs while setting up a BIO chain. In this case, the filter BIO is freed, but the original BIO still holds a reference to it. If the…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| JBCS httpd 2.4.51.sp2 | openssl | RHSA-2023:3355 |
| JBoss Core Services for RHEL 8 | jbcs-httpd24-openssl-1:1.1.1k-14.el8jbcs | RHSA-2023:3354 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | edk2-0:20220126gitbb1bba3d77-4.el8 | RHSA-2023:2932 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | openssl-1:1.1.1k-9.el8_7 | RHSA-2023:1405 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support | edk2-0:20220126gitbb1bba3d77-2.el8_6.1 | RHSA-2023:4128 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support | openssl-1:1.1.1k-9.el8_6 | RHSA-2023:3408 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | openssl-1:3.0.1-47.el9_1 | RHSA-2023:0946 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | edk2-0:20221207gitfff6d81270b5-9.el9_2 | RHSA-2023:2165 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-r7jw-wp68-3xch in your dependencies?
Find it across crates.io, including transitive dependencies.