Incomplete PKCS#7 padding validation in Forge decryption
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · Low · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 19 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
Forge (node-forge) before 1.4.1 has incomplete PKCS#7 padding validation in AES and DES CBC and ECB decryption. It checks only the final padding byte and accepts zero, oversized or mismatched padding, letting malformed ciphertext pass and up to four plaintext blocks disappear (CWE-20, CWE-354). Remote unauthenticated attackers can trigger integrity failures in applications that treat successful decryption as proof of valid padding. A public exploit is linked in the references.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-07
Description from the CNA
Forge (also called node-forge) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. Prior to 1.4.1, the affected implementation used decipher.finish(), CBC and ECB modes, PKCS#7 padding to process the relevant input or security decision. node-forge validated only the final byte of PKCS#7 padding during CBC and ECB decryption and accepted zero, oversized, or mismatched padding bytes. Malformed ciphertext could consequently be accepted and up to four plaintext blocks could be silently removed, causing an integrity failure in applications that treated successful decryption as proof of valid padding. This issue is fixed in version 1.4.1.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- 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
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| digitalbazaar | forge | before 1.4.1 | 1.4.1 | Patch available | CNA |
- forge Vendordigitalbazaar Affected before 1.4.1 Fixed in 1.4.1 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:digitalbazaar:forge:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 1.4.1 | Vulnerable | digitalbazaar |
- cpe:2.3:a:digitalbazaar:forge:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 1.4.1 Vulnerable ·digitalbazaar
Remediation
Upgrade digitalbazaar forge to version 1.4.1, which fixes this flaw. Red Hat lists no fix planned for Node HealthCheck Operator, OpenShift Service Mesh 3, Red Hat Ceph Storage 4 and Red Hat Fuse 7. Red Hat lists plan none available for OpenShift Pipelines, OpenShift Serverless, Red Hat AMQ Broker 7, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2, Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop, Red Hat Connectivity Link 1, Red Hat Developer Hub 1, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-07
- Fix · CNA forge (digitalbazaar) Fixed in 1.4.1
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Node HealthCheck Operator | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| OpenShift Pipelines | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Serverless | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| OpenShift Service Mesh 3 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Build of Podman Desktop | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 4 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Connectivity Link 1 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Fuse 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Quay 3 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel for Spring Boot 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Self-service automation portal 2 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Hardened Images
Timeline
- 2026-10-29 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-118776
- 2026-11-04 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-11-04 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
- 2026-11-04 CVSS score added · NVD
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-07 CVSS score added · Red Hat
References
More digitalbazaar Forge vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-26254 Forge has a basicConstraints bypass in its certificate chain verification (RFC 5280 violation) CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- 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
Sources
- CVE-2026-118776 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-118776 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2026-118776 · 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