CVE-2026-63073 Details
Issue summary: OpenSSL CMP response validation passed an unexpected response
sender distinguished name directly as the format string to `ERR_raise_data()`.

Impact summary: A malicious or intercepted CMP endpoint can crash a CMP client
that enforces an expected sender or uses a pinned server certificate whose
subject becomes the default expected sender.

CWE: CWE-134 (Use of Externally-Controlled Format String)

Description: When validating a received CMP message, ossl_cmp_msg_check_update()
converts the peer-supplied sender distinguished name with X509_NAME_oneline()
and passes it directly as the format argument to ERR_raise_data(). Percent
characters survive the conversion, so a sender DN such as "CN=%s%n" reaches
BIO_vsnprintf() as an attacker-controlled format string with no matching variadic
arguments. This path is only reached when the caller configures an expected
sender or pins a server certificate, which is the normal configuration for a
CMP client validating server responses.

Since the attacker controls the format string but none of the variadic
arguments, such specifiers as %s and %n dereference or write through unrelated
stack contents and crash the client. The reliable consequence is a denial of
service, when the response comes from a malicious or intercepted CMP endpoint.
There is no controlled memory write, arbitrary-address read, or reliable path
to remote code execution.

FIPS impact: no

No FIPS modules are affected by this issue, as the CMP protocol
implementation is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
View at NVD
Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-63073
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System): EPSS predicts the likelihood that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild. A higher percentage means a greater chance of an exploit occurring. The EPSS model produces a probability score between 0 and 1 (0 and 100%).
1.16 Probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days (67th percentile)
CVSS score for CVE-2026-63073
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System): An open framework owned and managed by FIRST.Org, Inc. that assigns a numerical score from 0 to 10 to software vulnerabilities to indicate their severity.
9.8 Critical
Products affected by CVE-2026-63073

CVE-2026-63073 Global Footprint

Top 10 Identified Countries

Country Observations Percentage
US 48,001 34.62%
DE 14,668 10.58%
JP 12,051 8.69%
CA 5,190 3.74%
DK 4,934 3.56%
GB 4,774 3.44%
FR 4,010 2.89%
IN 3,873 2.79%
NL 3,671 2.65%
IE 3,504 2.53%

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CVE-2026-63073 Industry Footprint

Top 10 Identified Industries

*Service provider organizations (typically Technology and Telecommunications) are disproportionally represented in the results given their upstream ownership of end-user infrastructure. See our FAQs.

Industry* Observations Percentage
Technology 76,807 76.94%
Telecommunications 11,546 11.57%
Education 5,419 5.43%
Government/Politics 1,278 1.28%
Energy/Resources 1,107 1.11%
Media/Entertainment 694 0.70%
Business Services 515 0.52%
Manufacturing 394 0.39%
Finance 325 0.33%
Utilities 318 0.32%

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