{"id":"CVE-2026-118774","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-118774"],"related":[],"title":"node-forge: certificate signature scheme check can be bypassed in X.509 verification","description":"Forge (also called node-forge) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. Prior to 1.4.1, the affected implementation used certificate.verify(child), _verifySignature(), lib/x509.js to process the relevant input or security decision. node-forge selected RSA padding and RSASSA-PSS parameters from the issuer certificate rather than the child certificate being verified. A child labeled as RSASSA-PSS could therefore be accepted with a PKCS#1 v1.5 signature when the issuer used PKCS#1 v1.5. The signature still had to be produced with the trusted issuer's private key, so this did not permit certificate identity forgery, but it could bypass policies that require a declared signature scheme. This issue is fixed in version 1.4.1.","summary":"node-forge, a JavaScript TLS and crypto library, picks RSA padding from the issuer certificate instead of the child certificate during verification. A child certificate labeled RSASSA-PSS can be accepted with a PKCS#1 v1.5 signature, which can bypass policies that require a declared signature scheme.","severity":"low","cvss":3.7,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["javascript","node-forge","package","tls","x509"],"not_affected_if":["no-certificate-verification","not-using-node-forge"],"how_to_check":"- Check the installed node-forge version with `npm ls node-forge` in each project.\n- Look for node-forge in lockfiles such as `package-lock.json` or `yarn.lock`, including transitive dependencies.","fix":"- node-forge: move to `1.4.1` or later.","status":"open","published_at":"2026-10-29T19:17:19+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-29T19:26:47+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-29T19:27:36+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-29T19:27:36+00:00","category":"package","confidence":0.7,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-29T19:27:36Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"- node-forge: move to `1.4.1` or later.","reach":"network","title":"node-forge: certificate signature scheme check can be bypassed in X.509 verification","impact":"low","summary":"node-forge, a JavaScript TLS and crypto library, picks RSA padding from the issuer certificate instead of the child certificate during verification. A child certificate labeled RSASSA-PSS can be accepted with a PKCS#1 v1.5 signature, which can bypass policies that require a declared signature scheme.","audience":"developers","category":"package","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["node-forge","javascript","tls","x509"],"confidence":0.7,"fix_status":"available","needs_auth":"unknown","worst_case":"certificate signature policy bypassed; identity forgery not possible","analyst_note":"","how_to_check":"- Check the installed node-forge version with `npm ls node-forge` in each project.\n- Look for node-forge in lockfiles such as `package-lock.json` or `yarn.lock`, including transitive dependencies.","plain_action":"","needs_analyst":false,"not_affected_if":["no-certificate-verification","not-using-node-forge"],"who_is_affected":"Applications that use node-forge to verify X.509 certificate chains, particularly where a policy requires a specific declared signature scheme such as RSASSA-PSS. The sources say the signature still has to come from the trusted issuer's private key, so certificate identity forgery is not possible. Projects that do not use node-forge for certificate verification can skip it.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"low"},"cost_usd":0.00071,"input_tokens":4278,"output_tokens":564,"severity_before":"low"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-118774':16A,19A '-2026':15A,18A '1':63B,147C,155C '1.4.1':94C,196C 'accept':59B,143C 'affect':96C 'also':77C 'bypass':10A,68B,182C 'call':78C 'certif':4A,42B,47B,52B,125C,130C,176C 'certificate.verify':99C 'check':7A 'child':46B,51B,100C,129C,134C 'could':140C,181C 'crypto':34B 'cve':14A,17A 'decis':110C 'declar':73B,187C 'fix':193C 'forg':3A,23B,29B,76C,81C,113C 'forgeri':178C 'ident':177C 'implement':85C,97C 'input':107C 'instead':43B 'issu':191C 'issuer':41B,124C,152C,167C 'javascript':20B,31B,91C 'key':170C 'label':53B,135C 'layer':88C 'lib/x509.js':102C 'librari':35B 'nativ':84C 'node':2A,22B,28B,80C,112C 'node-forg':1A,21B,27B,79C,111C 'packag':24B 'pad':38B,116C 'paramet':121C 'permit':175C 'pick':36B 'pkcs':62B,146C,154C 'polici':69B,183C 'prior':92C 'privat':169C 'process':104C 'produc':163C 'pss':56B,120C,139C 'rather':126C 'relev':106C 'requir':71B,185C 'rsa':37B,115C 'rsassa':55B,119C,138C 'rsassa-pss':54B,118C,137C 'scheme':6A,75B,189C 'secur':89C,109C 'select':114C 'signatur':5A,65B,74B,149C,158C,188C 'still':159C 'therefor':141C 'tls':25B,32B 'transport':87C 'trust':166C 'use':98C,153C 'v1.5':64B,148C,156C 'verif':13A,49B 'verifi':132C 'verifysignatur':101C 'version':195C 'x.509':12A 'x509':26B","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Applications that use node-forge to verify X.509 certificate chains, particularly where a policy requires a specific declared signature scheme such as RSASSA-PSS. The sources say the signature still has to come from the trusted issuer's private key, so certificate identity forgery is not possible. Projects that do not use node-forge for certificate verification can skip it.","tier":"C","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"fix_status":"available","audience":"developers","plain_action":null,"first_public_at":"2026-10-29T19:17:19+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N","cvss_by":"security-advisories@github.com","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-118774","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-118774","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-10-29T19:17:19+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-29T19:17:19+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-29T19:26:47+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-29T19:26:47+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}