PKIXCertPathReviewer does not apply X.509 name constraints to the target certificate

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-71889
StatePUBLISHED
Assignerbcorg
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-10-03 09:17:05 UTC
Updated2026-10-03 09:17:05 UTC
DescriptionIn Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, neither copy of PKIXCertPathReviewer - org.bouncycastle.pkix.jcajce.PKIXCertPathReviewer nor the legacy org.bouncycastle.x509.PKIXCertPathReviewer - applied X.509 name constraints to the end-entity certificate. checkNameConstraints walked the path with a loop bound of index greater than zero, which is the bound the CA-only steps require, but index zero is the target certificate under the standard CertPath ordering, so the permitted and excluded subtree checks of RFC 5280 sec. 6.1.3 (b) and (c) never ran against the leaf's subject DN or its subjectAltName. A chain whose leaf violated a NameConstraints extension imposed by its own issuing CA therefore reported isValidCertPath() true with an empty error list, while CertPathValidator.getInstance("PKIX", "BC"), which shares no code with the reviewer, rejected the identical chain against the identical trust anchor. An application using the reviewer to make the trust decision rather than for diagnostics alongside a real validation accepted a certificate the constrained CA was never authorised to issue. Both copies now check every certificate in the path including the target, waive the sec. 4.2.1.10 self-issued exemption for the final certificate as sec. 6.1.3 requires, and skip the sec. 6.1.4 (g) constraint-accumulation step for the target. This issue also affects Bouncy Castle for Java LTS before 2.73.13, which carries only the org.bouncycastle.pkix.jcajce copy of the reviewer. It also affects 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).

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v4.0 8.7 HIGH from 91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630

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

Problem Types: CWE-295 | CWE-295 CWE-295 Improper Certificate Validation

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
4.091579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630Secondary8.7HIGHCVSS: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/C...
4.0CNACVSS8.7HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/U:Amber

CVSS v4.0 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None
Sub Conf.
None
Sub Integrity
None
Sub Availability
None

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

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Legion Of The Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-JAVA affected 1.86 maven all
CNA Legion Of The Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-JAVA affected 1.86 maven all
CNA Legion Of The Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-LTS-JAVA affected 2.73.0 2.73.13 maven all
CNA Legion Of The Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-FJA affected 1.0.4 1.0.13 maven all
CNA Legion Of The Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-FJA affected 2.0.0 2.0.13 maven all
CNA Legion Of The Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-FJA affected 2.1.0 2.1.13 maven all

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/bcgit/bc-java/wiki/CVE%E2%80%902026%E2%80%9071889 91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630 github.com
github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commit/06dcff2f51037095de126986285c998e3455ab85 91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630 github.com
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

Vendor Comments And Credit

Discovery Credit

CNA: Yu Bao from the PayPal Cyber Security Team (en)

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