openssl-encrypt silently skips schema validation when jsonschema library is not installed

Overview

Summary

In openssl_encrypt/modules/json_validator.py at lines 234-238, when the jsonschema library is not installed, all schema validation is silently skipped with only a print warning.

Affected Code

if not JSONSCHEMA_AVAILABLE:
    print(f"Warning: Cannot validate against schema '{schema_name}' - jsonschema library not available")
    return

Additionally, unknown metadata format versions (line 288-293) bypass schema validation entirely, and all schemas use additionalProperties: true allowing arbitrary extra fields.

Impact

An attacker who can influence the Python environment (remove the jsonschema package) or craft metadata with an unknown version number can bypass all schema checks. Malformed or malicious metadata will be accepted without validation.

Recommended Fix

• Make jsonschema a required dependency, not optional
• Or fail-closed: refuse to process metadata when validation cannot be performed
• Reject unknown format versions instead of silently skipping validation
• Consider using additionalProperties: false in schemas

Fix

Fixed in commit 6e7f938 on branch releases/1.4.x — validate_against_schema() now raises JSONValidationError when jsonschema is unavailable instead of silently passing; changed print() warning to logging.warning().

Affected packages

• openssl-encrypt < 1.4.0

Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

• openssl-encrypt 1.4.0