CVE-2009-0789

CVE-2009-0789 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Openssl with a CVSS 2.0 base score of 5.0. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-189.

Key facts

• Severity: Medium (CVSS 2.0 base score 5.0)
• EPSS exploit prediction: 3% (83rd percentile)
• Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
• Weakness: CWE-189
• Affected product: Openssl
• Published: 2009-03-27
• Last modified: 2026-06-16

Description

OpenSSL before 0.9.8k on WIN64 and certain other platforms does not properly handle a malformed ASN.1 structure, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (invalid memory access and application crash) by placing this structure in the public key of a certificate, as demonstrated by an RSA public key.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2009-0789?

OpenSSL before 0.9.8k on WIN64 and certain other platforms does not properly handle a malformed ASN.1 structure, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (invalid memory access and application crash) by placing this structure in the public key of a certificate, as demonstrated by an RSA public key.

How severe is CVE-2009-0789?

CVE-2009-0789 has a CVSS 2.0 base score of 5.0, rated medium severity.

Is CVE-2009-0789 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 3% (83rd percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2009-0789?

CVE-2009-0789 primarily affects Openssl. In total, 62 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2009-0789?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2009-0789 published?

CVE-2009-0789 was published on 2009-03-27 and last updated on 2026-06-16.

References

• ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/security/advisories/NetBSD-SA2009-008.txt.asc
• http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2009/Sep/msg00004.html
• http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2009-05/msg00000.html
• http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-07/msg00013.html
• http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-07/msg00014.html
• http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=124464882609472&w=2
• http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=127678688104458&w=2
• http://secunia.com/advisories/34411
• http://secunia.com/advisories/34460
• http://secunia.com/advisories/34666
• http://secunia.com/advisories/35065
• http://secunia.com/advisories/35380
• http://secunia.com/advisories/35729
• http://secunia.com/advisories/36701
• http://secunia.com/advisories/42724
• http://secunia.com/advisories/42733
• http://securitytracker.com/id?1021906
• http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=671059&group_id=116847
• http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3865
• http://voodoo-circle.sourceforge.net/sa/sa-20090326-01.html
• http://www.openssl.org/news/secadv_20090325.txt
• http://www.osvdb.org/52866
• http://www.php.net/archive/2009.php#id2009-04-08-1
• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/34256
• http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/0850
• http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1020
• http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1175
• http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/1548
• https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/49433
• https://kb.bluecoat.com/index?page=content&id=SA50

Affected products (62)

• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.1c:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.2b:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.3a:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.5:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.5:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.5a:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.5a:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.5a:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6:beta3:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6a:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6a:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6a:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6a:beta3:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6b:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6c:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6d:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6e:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6f:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6g:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6h:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6i:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6j:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6k:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6l:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.6m:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.7:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.7:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.7:beta3:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.7:beta4:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.7:beta5:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.7:beta6:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:0.9.7a:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Openssl

• CVE-2009-3245 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): OpenSSL before 0.9.8m does not check for a NULL return value from bn_wexpand function calls in (1) crypto/bn/bn_div.c,…
• CVE-2006-3738 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Buffer overflow in the SSL_get_shared_ciphers function in OpenSSL 0.9.7 before 0.9.7l, 0.9.8 before 0.9.8d, and earlier…
• CVE-2026-31789 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Issue summary: Converting an excessively large OCTET STRING value to a hexadecimal string leads to a heap buffer…
• CVE-2022-2274 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The OpenSSL 3.0.4 release introduced a serious bug in the RSA implementation for X86_64 CPUs supporting the AVX512IFMA…
• CVE-2021-3711 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In order to decrypt SM2 encrypted data an application is expected to call the API function EVP_PKEY_decrypt().…
• CVE-2016-6309 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): statem/statem.c in OpenSSL 1.1.0a does not consider memory-block movement after a realloc call, which allows remote…

All CVEs affecting Openssl →

Other CWE-189 (Numeric Errors) vulnerabilities

• CVE-2015-8396 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Integer overflow in the ImageRegionReader::ReadIntoBuffer function in…
• CVE-2015-7205 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Integer underflow in the RTPReceiverVideo::ParseRtpPacket function in Mozilla Firefox before 43.0 and Firefox ESR 38.x…
• CVE-2015-6575 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): SampleTable.cpp in libstagefright in Android before 5.1.1 LMY48I does not properly consider integer promotion, which…
• CVE-2015-3864 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Integer underflow in the MPEG4Extractor::parseChunk function in MPEG4Extractor.cpp in libstagefright in mediaserver in…
• CVE-2015-3836 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The Parse_wave function in arm-wt-22k/lib_src/eas_mdls.c in the Sonivox DLS-to-EAS converter in Android before 5.1.1…
• CVE-2015-3834 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Multiple integer overflows in the BnHDCP::onTransact function in media/libmedia/IHDCP.cpp in libstagefright in Android…

Browse all CWE-189 (Numeric Errors) vulnerabilities →

Threat intelligence

Threat-intel indicators referencing this CVE:

• 222.99.52.202 (ipv4-addr)
• 90.160.135.217 (ipv4-addr)
• 62.36.19.42 (ipv4-addr)
• 62.36.19.41 (ipv4-addr)
• 171.100.156.38 (ipv4-addr)