node-forge RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification accepts extra nested DigestAlgorithm elementsGHSA-86w9-cpqp-85rv
HIGHFix: digitalbazaar/forge#1152GHSA-86w9-cpqp-85rv is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in node-forge. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-86w9-cpqp-85rv.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-86w9-cpqp-85rv by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
node-forgenpmDescription
Forge (also called node-forge) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. Prior to version 1.4.0, RSASSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification accepts forged signatures for low public exponent keys (e=3). Attackers can forge signatures by stuffing “garbage” bytes within the ASN structure in order to construct a signature that passes verification, enabling Bleichenbacher style forgery. This issue is similar to CVE-2022-24771, but adds bytes in an addition field within the ASN structure, rather than outside of it. Additionally, forge does not validate that signatures include a minimum of 8 bytes of padding as defined by the specification, providing attackers additional space to construct Bleichenbacher forgeries. Version 1.4.0 patches the issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | node-forge | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
forgedigitalbazaarDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for node-forge, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of node-forge has shipped for GHSA-86w9-cpqp-85rv yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-86w9-cpqp-85rv (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 | automation-gateway-0:2.5.20260422-3.el8ap | RHSA-2026:24761 |
| Cluster Observability Operator 1.5.3 | cluster-observability-operator/logging-console-plugin-pf4-rhel9:1782839279 | RHSA-2026:34342 |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 9.2 | rhceph/rhceph-9-rhel10:1790843527 | RHSA-2026:86618 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8 | rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9:1776784286 | RHSA-2026:9742 |
| Red Hat Developer Hub 1.9 | rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9:1777903262 | RHSA-2026:13826 |
| Red Hat Quay 3.10 | quay/quay-rhel8:1779822261 | RHSA-2026:22840 |
| Red Hat Quay 3.12 | quay/quay-rhel8:1779811412 | RHSA-2026:22629 |
| Red Hat Quay 3.14 | quay/quay-rhel8:1779689392 | RHSA-2026:21017 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-86w9-cpqp-85rv in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.