CVE-2025-4575 The x509 application adds trusted use instead of rejected use

Medium 6.5 Published 22 May 2025 Updated 22 May 2025

A bug in the OpenSSL x509 tool incorrectly marks certificates as trusted instead of rejected, potentially bypassing intended usage restrictions.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2025-4575?

CVE-2025-4575 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Openssl Openssl, published on 22 May 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Issue summary: Use of -addreject option with the openssl x509 application adds a trusted use instead of a rejected use for a certificate.

Impact summary: If a user intends to make a trusted certificate rejected for a particular use it will be instead marked as trusted for that use.

A copy & paste error during minor refactoring of the code introduced this issue in the OpenSSL 3.5 version. If, for example, a trusted CA certificate should be trusted only for the purpose of authenticating TLS servers but not for CMS signature verification and the CMS signature verification is intended to be marked as rejected with the -addreject option, the resulting CA certificate will be trusted for CMS signature verification purpose instead.

Only users which use the trusted certificate format who use the openssl x509 command line application to add rejected uses are affected by this issue. The issues affecting only the command line application are considered to be Low severity.

The FIPS modules in 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue.

OpenSSL 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, 3.1, 3.0, 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 are also not affected by this issue.

Weakness: CWE-295

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-4575?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Openssl Openssl.

How do I fix CVE-2025-4575?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2025-4575 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-4575 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Openssl Openssl vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2025-4575, BELL-CVE-2025-4575, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-4575, GHSA-v8qh-5c5w-48pp, JLSEC-2026-259, MINI-fg85-78mg-4566.