Windows builds with insecure path defaults

Description

OpenSSL has internal defaults for a directory tree where it can find a configuration file as well as certificates used for verification in TLS. This directory is most commonly referred to as OPENSSLDIR, and is configurable with the --prefix / --openssldir configuration options. For OpenSSL versions 1.1.0 and 1.1.1, the mingw configuration targets assume that resulting programs and libraries are installed in a Unix-like environment and the default prefix for program installation as well as for OPENSSLDIR should be '/usr/local'. However, mingw programs are Windows programs, and as such, find themselves looking at sub-directories of 'C:/usr/local', which may be world writable, which enables untrusted users to modify OpenSSL's default configuration, insert CA certificates, modify (or even replace) existing engine modules, etc. For OpenSSL 1.0.2, '/usr/local/ssl' is used as default for OPENSSLDIR on all Unix and Windows targets, including Visual C builds. However, some build instructions for the diverse Windows targets on 1.0.2 encourage you to specify your own --prefix. OpenSSL versions 1.1.1, 1.1.0 and 1.0.2 are affected by this issue. Due to the limited scope of affected deployments this has been assessed as low severity and therefore we are not creating new releases at this time. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1d (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1c). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.0l (Affected 1.1.0-1.1.0k). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2t (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2s).

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.69% · top 47% of all CVEs (5 Nov 2026)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Low 3.3.

Weakness

• Insecure defaults
• CWE-295 (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-295 and its CVEs

Affected products

• OpenSSL · OpenSSL

  • affected Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1d (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1c)
  • affected Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.0l (Affected 1.1.0-1.1.0k)
  • affected Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2t (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2s)

References (21)

• FEDORA-2019-db06efdea1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_transferred
• FEDORA-2019-00c25b9379 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_transferred
• FEDORA-2019-9a0a7c0986 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2020.html (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2020.html (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2019-5072832.html (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2019-08 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2020.html (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2019-09 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20190730.txt (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://git.openssl.org/gitweb/?p=openssl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=54aa9d51b09d67e90db443f682cface795f5af9e (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://git.openssl.org/gitweb/?p=openssl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=e32bc855a81a2d48d215c506bdeb4f598045f7e9 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://git.openssl.org/gitweb/?p=openssl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=b15a19c148384e73338aa7c5b12652138e35ed28 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://git.openssl.org/gitweb/?p=openssl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=d333ebaf9c77332754a9d5e111e2f53e1de54fdd (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190823-0006/ (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K94041354 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K94041354?utm_source=f5support&amp%3Butm_medium=RSS (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2020.html (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• VU#429301 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_transferred
• https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10365 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
• https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-412672.pdf (opens in a new tab)x_transferred

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2019-1552](https://trackcve.app/badge/CVE-2019-1552.svg)](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2019-1552)

Record last updated 2 Nov 2026, 17:46 UTC.