Critical flaw in wolfSSL library enables forged certificate use

A critical vulnerability in the wolfSSL SSL/TLS library can weaken security via improper verification of the hash algorithm or its size when checking Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) signatures. Researchers warn that an attacker could exploit the issue to force a target device or application to accept forged certificates for malicious servers or connections. wolfSSL is a lightweight TLS/SSL implementation written in C, designed for embedded systems, IoT devices, industrial control systems, routers, appliances, sensors, automotive systems, and even aerospace or military equipment. According to the project’s website, wolfSSL is used in more than 5 billion applications and devices worldwide. The vulnerability, discovered by Nicholas Carlini of Anthropic and tracked as CVE-2026-5194, is a cryptographic validation flaw that affects multiple signature algorithms in wolfSSL, allowing improperly weak digests to be accepted during certificate verification. The issue impacts multiple algorithms, including ECDSA/ECC, DSA, ML-DSA, Ed25519, and Ed448. For builds that have both ECC and EdDSA or ML-DSA active, it is recommended to upgrade to the latest wolfSSL release. CVE-2026-5194 was addressed in wolfSSL version 5.9.1, released on April 8. “Missing hash/digest size and OID checks allow digests smaller than allowed when verifying ECDSA certificates, or smaller than is appropriate for the relevant key type, to be accepted by signature verification functions,” reads the s...