Commit b1ad397209 for openssl.org
commit b1ad3972091d546198dc7d935fe834e4c5e27fc0
Author: Matt Caswell <matt@openssl.foundation>
Date: Wed Jul 22 09:13:18 2026 +0100
Update CHANGES/NEWS to mention the HollowByte fix
Add a previously missing CHANGES.md/NEWS.md entry for the Hollowbyte fix.
Reviewed-by: Paul Dale <paul.dale@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Eugene Syromiatnikov <esyr@openssl.org>
Reviewed-by: Norbert Pocs <norbertp@openssl.org>
MergeDate: Wed Jul 29 09:15:32 2026
(Merged from https://github.com/openssl/openssl/pull/32039)
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 8d507e4f32..cf726e8be4 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -302,6 +302,20 @@ OpenSSL 4.0
### Changes between 4.0.0 and 4.0.1 [9 Jun 2026]
+ * Fixed excessive allocation of the handshake message buffer (aka HollowByte)
+
+ Previously, we would allocate a buffer large enough to hold the full size of
+ an incoming handshake message as advertised by the peer. This could be quite
+ large (although it is bounded, e.g. for ClientHello this is approximately
+ 128 KiB). If the peer then fails to send the full handshake message, then the
+ endpoint is left waiting for the remainder of the message to arrive and the
+ memory is still allocated (i.e. a Slowloris attack). To prevent this, we
+ incrementally grow the buffer as we receive the data.
+
+ This issue was reported by Okta Red Team.
+
+ *Matt Caswell*
+
* Fixed heap use-after-free in `PKCS7_verify()`.
Severity: High
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 239f195de0..5b446f8d45 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ This release incorporates the following bug fixes and mitigations:
and AES-SIV modes.
([CVE-2026-45446])
+ * Fixed excessive allocation of the handshake message buffer (aka HollowByte)
+
* Fixed a regression introduced in 4.0.0 that led to a `openssl pkey`
command crash when it was invoked to encrypt a private key with password
being provided interactively.