
CVE catalog
CVE-2026-97873
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, the raw JCA provider's legacy PBES1 (PKCS#5 scheme 1) and PKCS#12 PBE families ran their password-based key derivation with an iteration count taken from untrust
- Severity
- Medium · CVSS 5.3
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Published
- Updated
- Source
- [NVD] · [CVE record]
- EPSS
- 0.26% · Oct 25, 2026
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, the raw JCA provider's legacy PBES1 (PKCS#5 scheme 1) and PKCS#12 PBE families ran their password-based key derivation with an iteration count taken from untrusted input without bounding it, so a small input could dictate an arbitrary amount of work before anything could be verified. The AlgorithmParameters implementations (PKCS12PBE and its object identifier aliases, and PBKDF1) accepted any count from an encoded PKCS12PBEParams or PBEParameter, narrowing a value beyond the int range with intValue(), and every Cipher, Mac and SecretKeyFactory in these families derived with whatever count it was given, including one decoded by another provider's AlgorithmParameters, as when javax.crypto.EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo.getKeySpec() decrypts a PKCS#12 PBE-protected private key with BC. Both the parameter parse and the derivations now reject a negative or over-limit count under the org.bouncycastle.pbe.max_iteration_count property (default 10,000,000) that already bounded PBKDF2 (CVE-2026-17508), and the parse rejects a count beyond the int range rather than narrowing it. This issue also affects Bouncy Castle for Java LTS before 2.73.13.
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-2026-97873]
- [https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97873]
- [https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-97873]
- [https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-97873.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]