Forge has a basicConstraints bypass in its certificate chain verification (RFC 5280 violation)
Priority HIGH 74CWE-295Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Spoofing
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 6 fixed, 8 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-295.
Summary
Forge (also called `node-forge`) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. Prior to version 1.4.0, `pki.verifyCertificateChain()` does not enforce RFC 5280 basicConstraints requirements when an intermediate certificate lacks both the `basicConstraints` and `keyUsage` extensions. This allows any leaf certificate (without these extensions) to act as a CA and sign other certificates, which node-forge will accept as valid. Version 1.4.0 patches the issue.
Why it matters now
Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00361 30th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Partial forge (digitalbazaar): 1.4.0node-forge (npm): 1.4.0Red Hat: 5 advisoriesRed Hat: 6 fixed, 8 without a fix
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| digitalbazaar | forge | before 1.4.0 | 1.4.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | node-forge (npm) | before 1.4.0 | 1.4.0 | Patch available | GHSA-2328-f5f3-gj25 |
- forge Vendordigitalbazaar Affected before 1.4.0 Fixed in 1.4.0 Patch available CNA
- node-forge (npm) Vendor— Affected before 1.4.0 Fixed in 1.4.0 Patch available GHSA-2328-f5f3-gj25
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:digitalbazaar:forge:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* | up to 1.3.3 | Vulnerable | digitalbazaar |
- cpe:2.3:a:digitalbazaar:forge:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:* Versions up to 1.3.3 Vulnerable ·digitalbazaar
Remediation
- Fix · CNA forge (digitalbazaar) Fixed in 1.4.0
- Fix · GHSA-2328-f5f3-gj25 node-forge (npm) Fixed in 1.4.0 Advisory →
Red Hat 5 advisories
- RHSA-2026:86618 Released 2026-10-21 · Red Hat rating CriticalNew container image: rhceph-9.2
- Red Hat Ceph Storage 9.2 registry.redhat.io/rhceph/rhceph-9-rhel10
- RHSA-2026:34342 Released 2026-07-01 · Red Hat rating CriticalCluster Observability Operator 1.5.0
- Cluster Observability Operator 1.5 registry.redhat.io/cluster-observability-operator/distributed-tracing-console-plugin-pf4-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/cluster-observability-operator/distributed-tracing-console-plugin-pf5-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/cluster-observability-operator/distributed-tracing-console-plugin-pf6-rhel9 +9
- RHSA-2026:24761 Released 2026-06-09 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 Product Security and Bug Fix Update
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 automation-controller-venv-tower-4.6.29-2.el8ap, automation-gateway-proxy-server-2.5.10-6.el8ap, automation-gateway-server-2.5.20260422-3.el8ap +4
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9 automation-controller-venv-tower-4.6.29-2.el9ap, automation-gateway-proxy-server-2.6.14-3.el9ap, automation-gateway-server-2.5.20260422-3.el9ap +4
Show 2 more Red Hat advisories
- RHSA-2026:13826 Released 2026-05-05 · Red Hat rating CriticalRed Hat Developer Hub 1.9.4 release.
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-rhel9-operator
- RHSA-2026:9742 Released 2026-04-22 · Red Hat rating CriticalRed Hat Developer Hub 1.8.6 release.
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8 registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhdh/rhdh-rhel9-operator
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Logging Subsystem for Red Hat OpenShift | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Data Grid 8 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Fuse 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Quay 3 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 2 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Cluster Observability Operator 1.5 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:34342 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:24761 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:24761 |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 9.2 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:86618 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:9742 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:13826 |
Not affected: 12 products
- Cluster Observability Operator 1.5
- Cryostat 4
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9
- Red Hat Ceph Storage 9.2
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8
- Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat Process Automation 7
- Red Hat build of Apache Camel - HawtIO 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-33896
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-2328-f5f3-gj25
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: RHSA-2026:86618 · Red Hat
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: Red Hat Ceph Storage 9.2 · Red Hat
- 2026-11-05 Fix available: Cluster Observability Operator 1.5 · Red Hat
References
More digitalbazaar Forge vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-82739 ASN.1 resource exhaustion in Forge asn1.fromDer via BIT STRINGs CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-82735 Denial of service in Forge TLS record processing via stack exhaustion CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-26253 Forge has signature forgery in Ed25519 due to missing S > L check CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-26252 Forge has signature forgery in RSA-PKCS due to ASN.1 extra field CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-26249 Forge has Denial of Service via Infinite Loop in BigInteger.modInverse() with Zero Input CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-82723 Incomplete PKCS#7 padding validation in Forge decryption CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
Sources
- CVE-2026-33896 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-33896 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-2328-f5f3-gj25 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-33896 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences