Chain intermediate CA:TRUE without keyCertSign accepted as a signing CA (temporary CA exemption)
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- Spoofing
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · Low · None
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-295.
Summary
Chain intermediate CA:TRUE without keyCertSign accepted as a signing CA. Intermediate CA certificates are required to have the keyCertSign key usage when a Key Usage extension is present, but chain-supplied temporary CAs (WOLFSSL_TEMP_CA) added while building a certificate path were previously exempted from this check, so an intermediate asserting CA:TRUE but lacking keyCertSign was accepted as a signing CA. The check now applies to chain-supplied temporary CAs as well; only operator-loaded root certificates (WOLFSSL_USER_CA) and self-signed roots remain exempt. Per RFC 5280 an absent Key Usage extension implies all usages, so the requirement is enforced only when the extension is actually present (extKeyUsageSet). Affects the OpenSSL-compatibility certificate-path-building path (X509_verify_cert / X509_STORE, OPENSSL_EXTRA/OPENSSL_ALL), where untrusted chain intermediates are added as temporary CAs; native (non-OpenSSL-compat) certificate verification does not create temporary CAs and is unaffected. Within those builds, the check applies unless ALLOW_INVALID_CERTSIGN is defined.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-55964
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-68g3-7fhp-7rg3
References
More Wolfssl vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-00830 SEGV and out of bounds memory read from malicious packet CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2022-18557 In wolfSSL before 5.5.1, malicious clients can cause a buffer overflow during a TLS 1.3… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2025-10943 Potential DoS Vulnerability through Multiple KeyShareEntry with Same Group in TLS 1.3 ClientHello CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.3
- TI-2017-09737 wolfSSL Bleichenbacher/ROBOT CVSS 3.0HIGH 7.5
- TI-2019-08902 wolfSSL 4.0.0 has a Buffer Overflow in DoPreSharedKeys in tls13.c when a current identity… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2017-02021 Improper certificate validation in wolfSSL CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-55964 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-55964 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-68g3-7fhp-7rg3 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences