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CVE-2026-74879 – Sensitive Information Disclosure – openssl_encrypt (PyPI) before 1.4.0

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Summary

CVE-2026-74879 is a sensitive information disclosure vulnerability in the openssl_encrypt Python package (published by maintainer jahlives on PyPI). The package’s /ready readiness/health-check endpoint returns full, unfiltered database exception strings to unauthenticated callers, allowing remote attackers to harvest internal infrastructure details simply by triggering a backend database error. The issue is rated HIGH severity and is remotely exploitable without authentication or user interaction.

Technical details

  • Root cause: The /ready endpoint handler (in openssl_encrypt_server/server.py) wraps its database connectivity check in a broad exception handler that returns the raw exception text directly in the HTTP response, e.g. except Exception as e: return {"status": "not_ready", "reason": str(e)}.
  • Trigger conditions: Any condition that causes the backend database connection/query to fail (e.g., DB outage, network partition, misconfiguration, or an attacker-influenced connection state) will cause the exception string to be reflected back in the API response.
  • Attack vector: Network — the /ready endpoint requires no authentication and can be queried by any remote, unauthenticated actor.
  • Impact: Disclosure of sensitive backend information including database hostnames, IP addresses, connection parameters, port numbers, driver/version information, and potentially embedded database credentials contained in connection-string error messages. This information can materially aid follow-on attacks against backend infrastructure. The flaw affects confidentiality only; integrity and availability are not directly impacted.
  • Weakness classification: CWE-209 (Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information) / CWE-201 (Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Sent Data), depending on advisory source.

Affected software

  • Product: openssl_encrypt (openssl-encrypt PyPI package), maintained by jahlives
  • Affected versions: All versions prior to 1.4.0
  • Fixed version: 1.4.0 and later

Severity

  • CVSS v3.1: 7.5 (HIGH) — CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
  • CVSS v4.0: 8.7 (HIGH) — CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Mitigation and recommended actions

  • Immediate: Upgrade openssl_encrypt to version 1.4.0 or later, which returns a generic status message (e.g., {"status": "not_ready", "reason": "database unavailable"}) instead of the raw exception text.
  • If patching is not immediately possible:
    • Restrict network access to the /ready endpoint to trusted internal monitoring/orchestration systems only (e.g., via firewall rules, reverse-proxy ACLs, or service mesh policy), rather than exposing it publicly.
    • Place a reverse proxy or API gateway in front of the service to strip or sanitize error payloads before they reach external callers.
    • Monitor and rotate any database credentials that could have been exposed via connection-string error messages, and review logs for repeated probing of the /ready endpoint.

References

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