Is CVE-2026-81703 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-81703 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-81703?

Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.5, published 27 August 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

Jahlives Openssl Encrypt before 1.4.9; openssl-encrypt (PyPI) ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,fixed=1.4.9.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-81703?

Yes. openssl-encrypt (PyPI): upgrade to 1.4.9 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-81703 attacked?

It is attacked over the network.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-81703?

Check whether you run Jahlives Openssl Encrypt or openssl-encrypt (PyPI) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-81703: openssl_encrypt authentication bypass in post-quantum key validation

CVE-2026-81703 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.5 · Published 2026-08-27

openssl_encrypt is a tool for encrypting and decrypting files using password-based encryption with support for post-quantum cryptography. Versions before 1.4.9 fail to validate whether embedded post-quantum private keys are properly encrypted, allowing attackers to craft malicious files that decrypt under any password and falsely claim to be integrity-verified. This bypasses the authentication mechanism entirely, potentially allowing attackers to distribute trojan files that users will unknowingly accept as legitimate.

Technologies: Jahlives Openssl Encrypt, openssl-encrypt (PyPI). Vendors: Jahlives, PyPI.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-81703 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-81703 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-81703?: Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.5, published 27 August 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Jahlives Openssl Encrypt before 1.4.9; openssl-encrypt (PyPI) ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,fixed=1.4.9.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-81703?: Yes. openssl-encrypt (PyPI): upgrade to 1.4.9 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-81703 attacked?: It is attacked over the network.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-81703?: Check whether you run Jahlives Openssl Encrypt or openssl-encrypt (PyPI) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

openssl-encrypt (PyPI): upgrade to 1.4.9 or later
```
pip install "openssl-encrypt>=1.4.9"
```

Technical details

The vulnerability is an improper authentication flaw (CWE-287) in the decrypt_file function. The vulnerable code trusts unencrypted embedded post-quantum private keys in file metadata when the pqc_key_encrypted field is absent or false; for mayo/cross/ML-KEM hybrid algorithms, decryption derives the bulk key only from this embedded key, completely bypassing password verification. An attacker can craft a v5-format file with a raw attacker-controlled post-quantum private key, set aead_binding to false, and pre-compute content hashes, resulting in a file that decrypts under any password while displaying "integrity verified". The vulnerability requires no network access and affects versions before 1.4.9. The fix (released in 1.4.9) default-denies any file with an unencrypted embedded PQC private key before any decryption occurs; legitimate legacy files can be read by explicitly passing allow_unencrypted_pqc_key=True.

Affected products

jahlives openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9

Identifiers

CVE-2026-81703
PYSEC-2026-3779

Timeline

2026-08-27: disclosed
2026-08-27: patched: Version 1.4.9 released

References

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