GHSA-h46v-rmh6-fq4f: Forge: X.509 pathLenConstraint not enforced by verifyCertificateChain() for CA certificates without keyUsage

Published Oct 29, 2026
·
Updated

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

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade node-forge to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 1.4.1

Event History

Oct 29, 2026
CVE Published
via OSV·07:23 PM
Data Sourced
via OSV·07:23 PM
DescriptionSeverityWeakness

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