5.9

CVE-2026-119189: Forge: X.509 pathLenConstraint not enforced by verifyCertificateChain() for CA certificates without keyUsage

Undergoing analysis
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2026-119189
Published 29-10-2026Last modified 03-11-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-119189 is a medium (CVSS 5.9) Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in digitalbazaar forge. EPSS estimates a 0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 5.7% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 5.9, network access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
5.9/10
010
Medium · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.17%
0%100%
Low · Change unavailable
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Timeline

  1. 29-10-2026
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 03-11-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

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.

CVSS metrics

3 scores · 3 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.17%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

6%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

Change unavailable

Change unavailable

30-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: network-reachable, no authentication, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Digitalbazaar1 product
Ubuntu1 product
  • node-node-forgeAll versions (No fix recorded)

2 vendors · 2 products

References

5 links