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Security Bulletin: Multiple vulnerabilities impact AIX due to OpenSSL

Security Bulletin


Summary

Vulnerabilities in OpenSSL could send contents of an uninitialized memory buffer (CVE-2026-31790), cause a use-after-free (CVE-2026-28387), cause a NULL pointer dereference (CVE-2026-28388, CVE-2026-28389, CVE-2026-28390), or lead to a buffer overflow (CVE-2026-31789). OpenSSL is used by AIX as part of AIX's secure network communications.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID:   CVE-2026-31790
DESCRIPTION:   Issue summary: Applications using RSASVE key encapsulation to establish a secret encryption key can send contents of an uninitialized memory buffer to a malicious peer. Impact summary: The uninitialized buffer might contain sensitive data from the previous execution of the application process which leads to sensitive data leakage to an attacker. RSA_public_encrypt() returns the number of bytes written on success and -1 on error. The affected code tests only whether the return value is non-zero. As a result, if RSA encryption fails, encapsulation can still return success to the caller, set the output lengths, and leave the caller to use the contents of the ciphertext buffer as if a valid KEM ciphertext had been produced. If applications use EVP_PKEY_encapsulate() with RSA/RSASVE on an attacker-supplied invalid RSA public key without first validating that key, then this may cause stale or uninitialized contents of the caller-provided ciphertext buffer to be disclosed to the attacker in place of the KEM ciphertext. As a workaround calling EVP_PKEY_public_check() or EVP_PKEY_public_check_quick() before EVP_PKEY_encapsulate() will mitigate the issue. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.1 and 3.0 are affected by this issue.
CWE:   CWE-754: Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions
CVSS Source:   CISA ADP
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-28387
DESCRIPTION:   Issue summary: An uncommon configuration of clients performing DANE TLSA-based server authentication, when paired with uncommon server DANE TLSA records, may result in a use-after-free and/or double-free on the client side. Impact summary: A use after free can have a range of potential consequences such as the corruption of valid data, crashes or execution of arbitrary code. However, the issue only affects clients that make use of TLSA records with both the PKIX-TA(0/PKIX-EE(1) certificate usages and the DANE-TA(2) certificate usage. By far the most common deployment of DANE is in SMTP MTAs for which RFC7672 recommends that clients treat as 'unusable' any TLSA records that have the PKIX certificate usages. These SMTP (or other similar) clients are not vulnerable to this issue. Conversely, any clients that support only the PKIX usages, and ignore the DANE-TA(2) usage are also not vulnerable. The client would also need to be communicating with a server that publishes a TLSA RRset with both types of TLSA records. No FIPS modules are affected by this issue, the problem code is outside the FIPS module boundary.
CWE:   CWE-416: Use After Free
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   8.1
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-28388
DESCRIPTION:   Issue summary: When a delta CRL that contains a Delta CRL Indicator extension is processed a NULL pointer dereference might happen if the required CRL Number extension is missing. Impact summary: A NULL pointer dereference can trigger a crash which leads to a Denial of Service for an application. When CRL processing and delta CRL processing is enabled during X.509 certificate verification, the delta CRL processing does not check whether the CRL Number extension is NULL before dereferencing it. When a malformed delta CRL file is being processed, this parameter can be NULL, causing a NULL pointer dereference. Exploiting this issue requires the X509_V_FLAG_USE_DELTAS flag to be enabled in the verification context, the certificate being verified to contain a freshestCRL extension or the base CRL to have the EXFLAG_FRESHEST flag set, and an attacker to provide a malformed CRL to an application that processes it. The vulnerability is limited to Denial of Service and cannot be escalated to achieve code execution or memory disclosure. For that reason the issue was assessed as Low severity according to our Security Policy. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
CWE:   CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-28389
DESCRIPTION:   Issue summary: During processing of a crafted CMS EnvelopedData message with KeyAgreeRecipientInfo a NULL pointer dereference can happen. Impact summary: Applications that process attacker-controlled CMS data may crash before authentication or cryptographic operations occur resulting in Denial of Service. When a CMS EnvelopedData message that uses KeyAgreeRecipientInfo is processed, the optional parameters field of KeyEncryptionAlgorithmIdentifier is examined without checking for its presence. This results in a NULL pointer dereference if the field is missing. Applications and services that call CMS_decrypt() on untrusted input (e.g., S/MIME processing or CMS-based protocols) are vulnerable. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
CWE:   CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-28390
DESCRIPTION:   Issue summary: During processing of a crafted CMS EnvelopedData message with KeyTransportRecipientInfo a NULL pointer dereference can happen. Impact summary: Applications that process attacker-controlled CMS data may crash before authentication or cryptographic operations occur resulting in Denial of Service. When a CMS EnvelopedData message that uses KeyTransportRecipientInfo with RSA-OAEP encryption is processed, the optional parameters field of RSA-OAEP SourceFunc algorithm identifier is examined without checking for its presence. This results in a NULL pointer dereference if the field is missing. Applications and services that call CMS_decrypt() on untrusted input (e.g., S/MIME processing or CMS-based protocols) are vulnerable. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
CWE:   CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   7.5
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:   CVE-2026-31789
DESCRIPTION:   Issue summary: Converting an excessively large OCTET STRING value to a hexadecimal string leads to a heap buffer overflow on 32 bit platforms. Impact summary: A heap buffer overflow may lead to a crash or possibly an attacker controlled code execution or other undefined behavior. If an attacker can supply a crafted X.509 certificate with an excessively large OCTET STRING value in extensions such as the Subject Key Identifier (SKID) or Authority Key Identifier (AKID) which are being converted to hex, the size of the buffer needed for the result is calculated as multiplication of the input length by 3. On 32 bit platforms, this multiplication may overflow resulting in the allocation of a smaller buffer and a heap buffer overflow. Applications and services that print or log contents of untrusted X.509 certificates are vulnerable to this issue. As the certificates would have to have sizes of over 1 Gigabyte, printing or logging such certificates is a fairly unlikely operation and only 32 bit platforms are affected, this issue was assigned Low severity. The FIPS modules in 3.6, 3.5, 3.4, 3.3 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as the affected code is outside the OpenSSL FIPS module boundary.
CWE:   CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write
CVSS Source:   NVD
CVSS Base score:   9.8
CVSS Vector:   (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Affected Products and Versions

Affected Product(s)Version(s)
AIX7.2
AIX7.3
VIOS4.1

 

The vulnerabilities in the following filesets are being addressed:

 

FilesetLower LevelUpper Level
openssl.base3.0.0.03.0.16.1000

 

Note:

        A. OpenSSL versions below 3.0 are out-of-support. Customers are advised to upgrade to OpenSSL 3.0.

 

To find out whether the affected filesets are installed on your systems, refer to the lslpp command found in the AIX user's guide.

 

Example:  lslpp -L | grep -i openssl.base

 

Remediation/Fixes

A. FIXES

 

IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now.

 

The fixes can be downloaded via https from:

https://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/openssl_fix47.tar

 

The links above are to a tar file containing this signed advisory, fix packages, and OpenSSL signatures for each package. The fixes below include prerequisite checking. This will enforce the correct mapping between the fixes and AIX Technology Levels.

            

Note that the tar file contains Interim fixes that are based on OpenSSL version, and AIX OpenSSL fixes are cumulative. If an OpenSSL fileset with VMRF higher than the affected level listed above is available from the web download site, then that fileset is the recommended remediation.

 

You must be on the 'prereq for installation' level before applying the interim fix. This may require installing a new level(prereq version) first. Latest level of OpenSSL fileset is available from the web download site:

https://www.ibm.com/resources/mrs/assets?source=aixbp&S_PKG=openssl

 

AIX LevelInterim FixFileset Name (prereq for installation)
7.2, 7.3301610mc.260424.epkg.Zopenssl.base(3.0.16.1000)

 

VIOS LevelInterim FixFileset Name (prereq for installation)
4.1301610mc.260424.epkg.Zopenssl.base(3.0.16.1000)

 

To extract the fixes from the tar file:

 

tar xvf openssl_fix47.tar

cd openssl_fix47

 

Verify you have retrieved the fixes intact:

The checksums below were generated using the "openssl dgst -sha256 [file]" command as the following:

 

openssl dgst -sha256filename
e43474e2e5aa096a19b36345c1e62c9df6ff0425820505a8eb9e751036ad0d55301610mc.260424.epkg.Z

 

The checksums below were generated using the "openssl dgst -sha512 [filename]" command as the following:

 

openssl dgst -sha512filename
319b1ae371438a00ddedcd5b7969e869cb46c646c888abf5906cb43232e2b622f3b869ff8972a2be8eafdf90c1347be83eca35115f1efe82cb8ed0d33843921e301610mc.260424.epkg.Z

 

These sums should match exactly. The OpenSSL signatures in the tar file and on this advisory can also be used to verify the integrity of the fixes.  If the sums or signatures cannot be confirmed, contact IBM AIX Support at https://ibm.com/support/ and describe the discrepancy.

            

openssl dgst -sha256 -verify [pubkey_file] -signature [advisory_file].sig [advisory_file]

openssl dgst -sha256 -verify [pubkey_file] -signature [ifix_file].sig [ifix_file]

 

Published advisory OpenSSL signature file location:

https://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/openssl_advisory47.asc.sig

 

B. FIX AND INTERIM FIX INSTALLATION

 

Interim fixes have had limited functional and regression testing but not the full regression testing that takes place for Service Packs; however, IBM does fully support them.

 

Interim fix management documentation can be found at:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/managing-interim-fixes-aix

 

To preview an interim fix installation:

emgr -e ipkg_name -p         # where ipkg_name is the name of the

                                         # interim fix package being previewed.

 

To install an interim fix package:

emgr -e ipkg_name -X         # where ipkg_name is the name of the

                                         # interim fix package being installed.

 

Workarounds and Mitigations

None

Get Notified about Future Security Bulletins

References

Off

Acknowledgement

Change History

04 May 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

According to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an "industry open standard designed to convey vulnerability severity and help to determine urgency and priority of response." IBM PROVIDES THE CVSS SCORES ""AS IS"" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ANY ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL SECURITY VULNERABILITY. In addition to other efforts to address potential vulnerabilities, IBM periodically updates the record of components contained in our product offerings. As part of that effort, if IBM identifies previously unidentified packages in a product/service inventory, we address relevant vulnerabilities regardless of CVE date. Inclusion of an older CVEID does not demonstrate that the referenced product has been used by IBM since that date, nor that IBM was aware of a vulnerability as of that date. We are making clients aware of relevant vulnerabilities as we become aware of them. "Affected Products and Versions" referenced in IBM Security Bulletins are intended to be only products and versions that are supported by IBM and have not passed their end-of-support or warranty date. Thus, failure to reference unsupported or extended-support products and versions in this Security Bulletin does not constitute a determination by IBM that they are unaffected by the vulnerability. Reference to one or more unsupported versions in this Security Bulletin shall not create an obligation for IBM to provide fixes for any unsupported or extended-support products or versions.

Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

Modified date:
04 May 2026

Initial Publish date:
04 May 2026

UID

ibm17271681