Security Bulletin
Summary
The Python cryptography package is used by IBM Cloud Pak for Data System to provide cryptographic functionality. CVE-2024-0727 affects the underlying OpenSSL library used by the cryptography package. Processing a maliciously formatted PKCS12 file may cause a NULL pointer dereference in OpenSSL, leading to application termination and potential denial of service. Applications loading PKCS12 files from untrusted sources using vulnerable OpenSSL APIs are affected by this issue.
Vulnerability Details
CVEID: CVE-2024-0727
DESCRIPTION: Issue summary: Processing a maliciously formatted PKCS12 file may lead OpenSSL
to crash leading to a potential Denial of Service attack
Impact summary: Applications loading files in the PKCS12 format from untrusted
sources might terminate abruptly.
A file in PKCS12 format can contain certificates and keys and may come from an
untrusted source. The PKCS12 specification allows certain fields to be NULL, but
OpenSSL does not correctly check for this case. This can lead to a NULL pointer
dereference that results in OpenSSL crashing. If an application processes PKCS12
files from an untrusted source using the OpenSSL APIs then that application will
be vulnerable to this issue.
OpenSSL APIs that are vulnerable to this are: PKCS12_parse(),
PKCS12_unpack_p7data(), PKCS12_unpack_p7encdata(), PKCS12_unpack_authsafes()
and PKCS12_newpass().
We have also fixed a similar issue in SMIME_write_PKCS7(). However since this
function is related to writing data we do not consider it security significant.
The FIPS modules in 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue.
CWE: CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
CVSS Source: IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score: 3.1
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L)
Affected Products and Versions
| Affected Product(s) | Version(s) |
| IBM Cloud Pak for Data System | 1.0.0.0 - 1.0.9.1 |
Remediation/Fixes
| Affected Product(s) | VRMF | Remediation/Fixes |
| IBM Cloud Pak for Data System | 1.0.10.0 | Link to Fix Central |
Workarounds and Mitigations
None
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References
Acknowledgement
Change History
01 Apr 2026: Initial Publication
*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.
Disclaimer
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Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
01 April 2026
Initial Publish date:
01 April 2026
UID
ibm17268297