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openssl-encrypt has non-cryptographic PRNG used for steganography pixel selectionGHSA-vfgx-5q85-58q3

Fix: jahlives/openssl_encrypt@09e96e0

GHSA-vfgx-5q85-58q3 is a CWE-338 vulnerability in openssl-encrypt. A fix is available for openssl-encrypt — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Also known asCVE-2026-74874PYSEC-2026-3754
Published
Updated
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Nov 11, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

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-vfgx-5q85-58q3.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs38th percentile — riskier than 38% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.00%0.31%0.62%0.94%0.3%0.4%0.4%0.4%Sep 26Nov 26Nov 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
🐍openssl-encrypt

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Summary

The generate_pseudorandom_sequence() function in openssl_encrypt/plugins/steganography/core/utils.py at lines 89-91 uses Python's random module (Mersenne Twister) for steganographic pixel/sample selection.

Affected Code

random.seed(seed)
sequence = random.sample(range(max_value), min(length, max_value))
return sequence

Additionally, the steganography password is stored as a plain Python string (not SecureBytes) and only 8 bytes (64 bits) of the SHA-256 hash are used for the seed, reducing effective security to 64 bits.

Impact

The Mersenne Twister's state can be recovered from approximately 624 outputs. An attacker who knows or guesses the password can predict the PRNG sequence and determine exactly which pixels contain hidden data, potentially extracting the hidden data without the password.

Recommended Fix

  • Use HMAC-DRBG or secrets module for cryptographically secure pixel selection
  • Use full 32-byte SHA-256 output as seed material
  • Store the password in SecureBytes instead of a plain string

Fix

Fixed in commit 09e96e0 on branch releases/1.4.x — replaced random.seed(hash(password)) with HMAC-SHA256 based CSPRNG (Fisher-Yates shuffle) and numpy Generator with HMAC-derived seeds across all steganography format modules.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐍PyPIopenssl-encryptall versions1.4.0pip install --upgrade 'openssl-encrypt==1.4.0'

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations
Application
openssl encryptjahlives
< 1.4.0
range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency
  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for openssl-encrypt, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update openssl-encrypt to 1.4.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-vfgx-5q85-58q3 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Summary The `generate_pseudorandom_sequence()` function in `openssl_encrypt/plugins/steganography/core/utils.py` at **lines 89-91** uses Python's `random` module (Mersenne Twister) for steganographic pixel/sample selection. ### Affected Code ```python random.seed(seed) sequence = random.sample(range(max_value), min(length, max_value)) return sequence ``` Additionally, the steganography password is stored as a plain Python string (not `SecureBytes`) and only 8 bytes (64 bits) of the SHA-256 hash are used for the seed, reducing effective security to 64 bits. ### Impact The Mersenne Twi
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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