CVE-2026-119189

Forge: X.509 pathLenConstraint not enforced by verifyCertificateChain() for CA certificates without keyUsage

Published Oct 29, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 5.9 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Forge (also called node-forge) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. Prior to 1.4.1, node-forge enforced an X.509 CA certificate's basicConstraints.pathLenConstraint only when that certificate also carried a keyUsage extension. Exploitation requires a path-length-constrained CA without keyUsage that chains to a root trusted by the application, and an attacker who holds that CA's private key or obtains a subordinate CA certificate from it. The attacker could then construct a chain exceeding the declared path length that still passed pki.verifyCertificateChain(). Public web PKI CA certificates normally include keyUsage; private PKIs with CA certificates created without it are more likely to be affected. This issue is fixed in version 1.4.1.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-h46v-rmh6-fq4f Forge: X.509 pathLenConstraint not enforced by verifyCertificateChain() for CA certificates without keyUsage
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:digitalbazaar:forge:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Digitalbazaar
Digitalbazaar forge
Vendors & Products Digitalbazaar
Digitalbazaar forge
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Forge (also called node-forge) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. Prior to 1.4.1, node-forge enforced an X.509 CA certificate's basicConstraints.pathLenConstraint only when that certificate also carried a keyUsage extension. Exploitation requires a path-length-constrained CA without keyUsage that chains to a root trusted by the application, and an attacker who holds that CA's private key or obtains a subordinate CA certificate from it. The attacker could then construct a chain exceeding the declared path length that still passed pki.verifyCertificateChain(). Public web PKI CA certificates normally include keyUsage; private PKIs with CA certificates created without it are more likely to be affected. This issue is fixed in version 1.4.1.
Title Forge: X.509 pathLenConstraint not enforced by verifyCertificateChain() for CA certificates without keyUsage
Weaknesses CWE-295
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Nov 3, 2026, 4:22 PM
Reserved
Oct 29, 2026, 4:04 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Oct 29, 2026, 8:17 PM
Modified
Nov 10, 2026, 7:26 PM
Severity
Moderate
Public date
Oct 29, 2026, 7:23 PM