
CVE catalog
CVE-2026-71888
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, the streaming CMS AuthenticatedData parser accepted a message whose digestAlgorithm and authAttrs fields disagreed about whether authenticated attributes were pr
- Severity
- High · CVSS 8.7
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Amber - Published
- Updated
- Source
- [NVD] · [CVE record]
- EPSS
- 0.11% · Oct 25, 2026
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, the streaming CMS AuthenticatedData parser accepted a message whose digestAlgorithm and authAttrs fields disagreed about whether authenticated attributes were present. RFC 5652 sec. 9.1 pairs the two, requiring that authAttrs be present whenever digestAlgorithm is, and sec. 9.2 makes the MAC cover the DER encoding of authAttrs when they are present and the eContent OCTET STRING directly when they are not. CMSAuthenticatedDataParser has to choose between those two in its constructor, before it can reach authAttrs, which comes later in the SEQUENCE, so it chose on digestAlgorithm alone: for a message with digestAlgorithm absent but authAttrs present it verified the content MAC and then returned the attributes through getAuthAttrs() as though they had been authenticated, when the MAC had never covered them. An attacker able to modify a message in transit could insert an authenticated attribute, such as an RFC 2634 ESSSecurityLabel, into an otherwise valid message while holding neither the key-encryption key nor the content-MAC key, and an application taking an authorization, routing or labelling decision from those attributes would act on attacker-chosen values. The content itself remained MAC-bound. asn1.cms.AuthenticatedData now rejects the mismatched pairing when parsing and CMSAuthenticatedDataParser cross-checks the two fields once authAttrs is read. This is a variant of CVE-2026-59642, which bound the content to the MAC for messages that legitimately carry authAttrs, and which does not address this case. This issue also affects Bouncy Castle for Java LTS before 2.73.13, and Bouncy Castle for Java FIPS (BC-FJA) before bcpkix-fips 1.0.13 (1.0.X series), 2.0.13 (2.0.X series) and 2.1.13 (2.1.X series), and bcutil-fips 2.0.8 (2.0.X series) and 2.1.8 (2.1.X series).
Vulnerable and fixed packages
Distribution-reported package versions and fixes. These do not depend on matching against the OpenFactory package catalog.
| Distribution | Package | Release | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | bouncycastle | sid | 1.86.2-1 | fixed |
| Debian | bouncycastle | forky | 1.86-1 | fixed |
| Debian | bouncycastle | trixie | 1.80-3 | vulnerable |
| Debian | bouncycastle | bookworm | 1.72-2 | vulnerable |
Fixed-version evidence
| Distribution | Package | Type | Release | Fixed version | Urgency | Origin | Bugs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | bouncycastle | source | sid | 1.86-1 | not yet assigned | Not reported | Not reported |
| Debian | bouncycastle | source | forky | 1.86-1 | not yet assigned | Not reported | Not reported |
| Debian | bouncycastle | source | trixie | (unfixed) | not yet assigned | Not reported | Not reported |
| Debian | bouncycastle | source | bookworm | (unfixed) | not yet assigned | Not reported | Not reported |
OpenFactory catalog packages
[Debian 12 (Bookworm)]
- [libbcjmail-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
- [libbcmail-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
- [libbcpg-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
- [libbcpkix-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
- [libbcprov-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
- [libbctls-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
- [libbcutil-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
1.72-2· all · bookwormAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · bookworm; nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 12
[Debian 13 (Trixie)]
- [libbcjmail-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
- [libbcmail-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
- [libbcpg-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
- [libbcpkix-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
- [libbcprov-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
- [libbctls-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
- [libbcutil-java]Affected
Source package: [bouncycastle]
Details (2)
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
1.80-3· all · trixieAffected
nvd · bouncycastle · debian · 13
Observed:
References
- [https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/csaf/opensuse-su-2026_12090-1.json]
- [https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-71888]
- [https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DEBIAN-CVE-2026-71888]
- [https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-71888]
- [https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-71888.json]
- [https://wid.cert-bund.de/.well-known/csaf/white/2026/wid-sec-w-2026-3726.json]
[CERT-Bund public advisories] · [Debian Security Tracker] · [FIRST EPSS] · [National Vulnerability Database (NVD)] · [OSV Package Vulnerability Database] · [Red Hat security advisories and VEX] · [SUSE security advisories and VEX]