openssl-encrypt before 1.4.9 fails to redact the file password in its –debug argv dump when the password is supplied via bundled short-option spellings (e.g. -apHunter2) or abbreviated long-option spellings (e.g. –passw). The sanitizer only recognized exact option names, –option=value forms, and tokens starting with -p, so these spellings bypass the redaction chokepoint and the cleartext password is written to stderr. Anyone with access to that output (terminal scrollback, merged 2>&1 output, CI job logs, or the GUI's persistent debug log) can recover the password.
HIGH
Vulnerability intelligence
CVE-2026-81705
CVSS 4.08.7
SeverityHigh
Known exploitedNo
NVD references:
Primary source: NIST National Vulnerability Database