Is CVE-2026-81705 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-81705 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-81705?

High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.5, 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-2026-81705?

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-2026-81705 attacked?

It is attacked over the network or with local access, in a software library.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-81705?

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-2026-81705: openssl-encrypt sensitive information in debug logs

CVE-2026-81705 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.5 · Published 2026-08-27

openssl-encrypt is a command-line tool for encrypting files with passwords. When run with the --debug flag, the tool is supposed to redact passwords from its output. However, versions before 1.4.9 fail to redact passwords when supplied using certain shorthand command-line spellings (like -apHunter2), allowing attackers with access to debug logs, terminal history, or CI job output to recover cleartext passwords.

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

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-81705 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-81705 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-81705?: High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.5, 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-2026-81705?: 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-2026-81705 attacked?: It is attacked over the network or with local access, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-81705?: 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 exists in the --debug mode's argv sanitization function, which intended to redact secret-valued options but only recognized exact option names, --option=value forms, and tokens literally starting with -p. However, argparse supports two additional option spellings that bypass the redaction logic: bundled short options (e.g., -apHunter2, where -a and -p are combined with the password value inline) and abbreviated long options (e.g., --passw or --pass as shortcuts for --password). These spellings do not match the sanitizer's patterns and leak the cleartext password to stderr. The attack requires no authentication and no special privileges—only access to stderr output, which is routinely captured in terminal scrollback, CI logs, and GUI debug logs. The fix (version 1.4.9) resolves option spellings using argparse's own logic before making redaction decisions.

Affected products

jahlives openssl-encrypt before 1.4.9

Identifiers

CVE-2026-81705
PYSEC-2026-3780

Timeline

2026-08-27: disclosed: Advisory published
2026-08-12: patched: Version 1.4.9 released with fix

References

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