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CVE-2022-4450

UNKNOWN
Published 2023-02-08T19:04:04.874Z
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CVSS Score

V3.1
7.5
/10
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Base Score Metrics
Exploitability: N/A Impact: N/A

EPSS Score

v2025.03.14
0.001
probability
of exploitation in the wild

There is a 0.1% chance that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days.

Updated: 2025-06-25
Exploit Probability
Percentile: 0.334
Higher than 33.4% of all CVEs

Attack Vector Metrics

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED

Impact Metrics

Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH

Description

The function PEM_read_bio_ex() reads a PEM file from a BIO and parses and
decodes the "name" (e.g. "CERTIFICATE"), any header data and the payload data.
If the function succeeds then the "name_out", "header" and "data" arguments are
populated with pointers to buffers containing the relevant decoded data. The
caller is responsible for freeing those buffers. It is possible to construct a
PEM file that results in 0 bytes of payload data. In this case PEM_read_bio_ex()
will return a failure code but will populate the header argument with a pointer
to a buffer that has already been freed. If the caller also frees this buffer
then a double free will occur. This will most likely lead to a crash. This
could be exploited by an attacker who has the ability to supply malicious PEM
files for parsing to achieve a denial of service attack.

The functions PEM_read_bio() and PEM_read() are simple wrappers around
PEM_read_bio_ex() and therefore these functions are also directly affected.

These functions are also called indirectly by a number of other OpenSSL
functions including PEM_X509_INFO_read_bio_ex() and
SSL_CTX_use_serverinfo_file() which are also vulnerable. Some OpenSSL internal
uses of these functions are not vulnerable because the caller does not free the
header argument if PEM_read_bio_ex() returns a failure code. These locations
include the PEM_read_bio_TYPE() functions as well as the decoders introduced in
OpenSSL 3.0.

The OpenSSL asn1parse command line application is also impacted by this issue.

Understanding This Vulnerability

This Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) entry provides detailed information about a security vulnerability that has been publicly disclosed. CVEs are standardized identifiers assigned by MITRE Corporation to track and catalog security vulnerabilities across software and hardware products.

The severity rating (UNKNOWN) indicates the potential impact of this vulnerability based on the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) framework. Higher severity ratings typically indicate vulnerabilities that could lead to more significant security breaches if exploited. Security teams should prioritize remediation efforts based on severity, exploit availability, and the EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score, which predicts the likelihood of exploitation in the wild.

If this vulnerability affects products or systems in your infrastructure, we recommend reviewing the affected products section, checking for available patches or updates from vendors, and implementing recommended workarounds or solutions until a permanent fix is available. Organizations should also monitor security advisories and threat intelligence feeds for updates about active exploitation of this vulnerability.

Available Exploits

No exploits available for this CVE.

Related News

No news articles found for this CVE.

Affected Products

References

Credits & Acknowledgments

finder

CarpetFuzz

reporter

Dawei Wang

reporter

Marc Schönefeld

remediation developer

Kurt Roeckx

remediation developer

Matt Caswell

GitHub Security Advisories

Community-driven vulnerability intelligence from GitHub

✓ GitHub Reviewed HIGH

openssl-src contains Double free after calling `PEM_read_bio_ex`

GHSA-v5w6-wcm8-jm4q

Advisory Details

The function `PEM_read_bio_ex()` reads a PEM file from a BIO and parses and decodes the "name" (e.g. "CERTIFICATE"), any header data and the payload data. If the function succeeds then the "name_out", "header" and "data" arguments are populated with pointers to buffers containing the relevant decoded data. The caller is responsible for freeing those buffers. It is possible to construct a PEM file that results in 0 bytes of payload data. In this case `PEM_read_bio_ex()` will return a failure code but will populate the header argument with a pointer to a buffer that has already been freed. If the caller also frees this buffer then a double free will occur. This will most likely lead to a crash. This could be exploited by an attacker who has the ability to supply malicious PEM files for parsing to achieve a denial of service attack. The functions `PEM_read_bio()` and `PEM_read()` are simple wrappers around `PEM_read_bio_ex()` and therefore these functions are also directly affected. These functions are also called indirectly by a number of other OpenSSL functions including `PEM_X509_INFO_read_bio_ex()` and `SSL_CTX_use_serverinfo_file()` which are also vulnerable. Some OpenSSL internal uses of these functions are not vulnerable because the caller does not free the header argument if `PEM_read_bio_ex()` returns a failure code. These locations include the `PEM_read_bio_TYPE()` functions as well as the decoders introduced in OpenSSL 3.0.

Affected Packages

crates.io openssl-src
ECOSYSTEM: ≥0 <111.25.0
crates.io openssl-src
ECOSYSTEM: ≥300.0.0 <300.0.12

CVSS Scoring

CVSS Score

7.5

CVSS Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Advisory provided by GitHub Security Advisory Database. Published: February 8, 2023, Modified: November 4, 2025

References

Published: 2023-02-08T19:04:04.874Z
Last Modified: 2025-08-27T20:32:52.583Z
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